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Is Iowa growing at a healthy rate or shriveling up? Depends on where you’re standing.

A report last week from the U.S. Census Bureau showed that the state’s population has increased 2.6 percent since 2000. But you wouldn’t guess that if you spent the decade in almost any small farming community, or even in Waterloo, Sioux City or Dubuque. They were among 700 cities and towns that lost population.

Des Moines lost people, too. Central Iowa has the feel of one big metro area, but the growth isn’t in the leafy old neighborhoods of the capital city. According to a summary provided by the State Library of Iowa: “The latest estimates show Ankeny with the largest numeric gain among Iowa cities, adding more than 15,000 residents since the 2000 census. Two other Des Moines suburbs, Urbandale and West Des Moines, ranked second and third, posting gains of 9,297 and 9,023 respectively over eight years.”

On a percentage basis, Waukee ranked as the fastest-growing city in Iowa, with a gain of 140 percent.

It all adds up to much more than just crowded suburban streets. Property values soar at the edges of Greater Des Moines’ suburbs, but it has to be getting harder and harder to find a buyer for a house or business in a pleasant, friendly but possibly doomed town out in the hinterlands.

And as Central Iowa justly claims to need more infrastructure spending, which towns or counties do we ignore to pay for it?

Setting economics aside, one wonders what “Iowa” will mean to future generations. So many of us have small-town roots and recall that way of life with affection. This helps create a friendly, sociable atmosphere in the businesses and gathering spots of a place like Des Moines.

From here on, fewer Iowans will grow up that way.

We all know you “can’t go home again” because memory doesn’t match reality. It’s worse to see “home” twisting in the wind.