Though Kitsap County is moving up on the list of places King County residents are moving to, the county is trailing the Puget Sound region in growth, according to Census data.

Kitsap County has moved up the list of destinations for people moving out of King County, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report.

The bureau estimated 2,261 people moved from King to Kitsap in a five-year period from 2012 to 2016, making Kitsap the No. 5 county of choice for residents exiting King. Counties ranking ahead of Kitsap were Pierce, Snohomish, Los Angeles and Whatcom.

An estimated 1,786 residents moved from Kitsap to King over the same five-year period, meaning Kitsap gained 475 more residents from King than it lost to King. The estimates are based on the American Community Survey, which asks respondents if they lived in a different place one year before.

The movement west across Puget Sound appears to be growing, as the Seattle Times noted earlier this week. Kitsap was the No. 7 destination for King transplants when the Census released its migration estimates for 2011 to 2015 and Kitsap, and Kitsap was losing more residents to King than it gained as recently as 2014.

Kitsap's rise in popularity among residents fleeing Puget Sound's metropolis was likely driven by soaring housing costs. The median price of a single-family home in King County in 2016 was $548,000 compared with $284,135 in Kitsap, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Similarly, average apartment rent in downtown Seattle was more than $2,200 a month at the end of 2016, while Kitsap had yet to crack $1,200.

According to the Census estimates, more people moved to Kitsap from King than from any other county in the country from 2012 through 2016 (Pierce was No. 2). San Diego County, California, and New London County, Connecticut — both home to Navy installations — were also among the top five counties new Kitsap residents moved from.

New residents also arrived from overseas. Census estimates 1,158 people emigrated from Asia to Kitsap from 2012 to 2016. More than 500 came from Europe.

The Census migration estimates predate the launch of Kitsap Transit fast-ferry service to Seattle in 2017, meaning the effects of that service have yet to be recorded.

Still growing gradually

Increased migration from King County to Kitsap has not sparked a population explosion on the peninsula.

Kitsap continues to trail the Puget Sound region in growth, according to official population estimates from the state Office of Financial Management. Those estimates show the county added 2,820 residents from 2017 to 2018 to reach 267,120, marking a growth rate of about 1.1 percent. Snohomish, the state's fastest growing county, grew by 2 percent.

Poulsbo grew at the fastest clip among Kitsap cities from 2017 to 2018, with a 3.2 percent jump in population. Bremerton's population ticked up 2.1 percent (though Navy deployments greatly affect the city's population from year to year).