This spring's Cochrane census confirms what we all suspected. We just keep growing and growing and growing more.

The town announced today the spring census pegged Cochrane's population at 27,960 up from 26,320 in 2017.

That represents a 5.9 per cent increase in one year and in the last seven years Cochrane has grown by over 10,000 people. In 2011, a federal census determined we had a population of 17,580 and 10 years ago a municipal census placed Cochrane's population at 14,653.

There were 900 people here in 1969 and it took 10 years to reach a population of 2,308 in 1979.

What the census indicates is the town's population growth has rebounded after dipping to 4.5 per cent in the last census, the lowest in several years.

The census was held between Apr. 3 and 30. Over 97 per cent of residents participated in the annual population count and more than half completing the form online.

Many provincial government grants are awarded on a per capita basis so keeping population figures current helps the town access the full amount of funds it's entitled to receive. The town started to conduct an annual census in 2013.

Cochrane remains one of the fastest growing municipalities in Canada. It's the second largest town in the Alberta only behind Okotoks, which is currently finalizing their 2018 census figures. Okotoks had a population of 28,881 in 2016.

The results are submitted to Alberta Municipal Affairs and the new population figure should be declared official by the province in September.