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I am of the opinion that, with the momentum the city currently has, that it's possible that the city can reach 40k. RVA is correct in that there is only so much space in town, but there is always the option of annexation. Beyond that, however, there is a push for downtown residences (not just student) as well as a denser housing portfolio overall, especially within Sunnyside. For example, the new University place will have a net increase of population on that parcel of 740 people (860 beds opposed to about 120 people before). Granted, half of that is dedicated student housing, but it is an example of the overall trend the city is currently pushing.
Keep in mind, though, that I'm an optimist.
Edit - Looking at the trends of the last few decades, the last decades, and the projections by the College of Business and Economics, it appears that, barring a major economic downturn, that Mon County is projected to have 130,000 people by 2035. Assuming the percentage of people in the county who reside in the city remains the same (assumption depends on amount of sprawl vs. denser housing and/or annexation), Morgantown should have right around 40,000 residents by 2035. Again, for this to happen, the city needs to annex at least some land as well as promote denser housing downtown.
Keep in mind this is referring to the 10 square miles that actually make up Morgantown, and not areas considered Morgantown, but not technically part of it. If you were to add areas like Sabraton, Westover, Star City, Suncrest, you would see the population is over 40k and Morgantown would still be under 20 square miles. Add in the students and Morgantown has another 30k people.
Let's compare Morgantown to other WV cities. In the same area where Huntington has 47k people and 15k students in around 20 square miles Morgantown would have around 41k people and 30k students. COmpared to Charleston which has 50k people in 30 square miles Morgantown would have 45k people and and 30k students.
Morgantown's actual city limits is the downtown for the Morgantown area. Growth is somewhat limited by space, and it will build up. Most of the growth around Morgantown will be in Mon county right next to Morgantown. So that increase of ~35k people in Mon county the next 20 years, the vast majority of it will be in the 'Morgantown area', the 15 square miles or so of urban area that is officially not part of Morgantown, and the suburban areas right outside of it.
CT and CRY - you need to check US census data information - I thought you guys always checked out the facts.
Morgantown had a population of 25,000 back in the 50s, and 27,000 when I was in school there in the 1970s!!!!!!!, and now, in 2012, it's reached an estimated 30,000.
CT and CRY - you need to check US census data information - I thought you guys always checked out the facts.
Morgantown had a population of 25,000 back in the 50s, and 27,000 when I was in school there in the 1970s!!!!!!!, and now, in 2012, it's reached an estimated 30,000.
What are you talking about? You need to reread this forum. I never made any claims about its population prior. THat was an argument you were having with CG.
Also, that is the population for the 10 square miles of Morgantown proper. It doesnt include the 30k students, they are not counted, nor does it include the 15k people who live in the 20 square miles around Morgantown.
Census is pretty irrelevant and inaccurate way of measuring people. It is not based on how many people live in an area. Morgantown could have 1 million people living in it, and have none of them counted because they didnt register as residents.
The actual number of people living in Morgantown is around 70k.
Cry - your response to mine implied Motown had grown tons, where in reality, Motown has grown VERY little in the past 60 years. But compared to other WV cities, at least it's growing.
Now, as to Monongalia Co. Population in 1980 was 75K, now it's 98K - over 32 years, it's grown a fair amount, esp. for WV, but not super-dramatic by any means.
CT and CRY - you need to check US census data information - I thought you guys always checked out the facts.
Morgantown had a population of 25,000 back in the 50s, and 27,000 when I was in school there in the 1970s!!!!!!!, and now, in 2012, it's reached an estimated 30,000.
They've released other estimates that put the figures that put current "permanent" resident population at 30,293 (I just checked). You are wrong about the 50s figures, unless you are including the students here at the time in those numbers. I lived in Morgantown from 1962-1966. We had 12,000 transient student residents then and about the same number of permanent residents. There were even fewer in the 50s. Most of the growth around here started happening in the early 80s and it has been accelerating in the most recent decade.
Cry - your response to mine implied Motown had grown tons, where in reality, Motown has grown VERY little in the past 60 years. But compared to other WV cities, at least it's growing.
Now, as to Monongalia Co. Population in 1980 was 75K, now it's 98K - over 32 years, it's grown a fair amount, esp. for WV, but not super-dramatic by any means.
Morgantown has grown a ton over the last few decades, even within city limits. The university grew by 15k, and much of that growth was within Morgantown itself. The real growth like I said was in the area just outside of the actual city limits.
So yes Morgantown has added 30k over the last 30 years or so. That is is growing by tons.
That growth is super dramatic for WV. In that same period where Morgantown grew most of WV shrunk by 50%.
For WV, yes, good growth, but my county in NC (Johnston) has grown by 38.5% IN JUST TEN YEARS. Now that's real growth. But that's not to take anything away from Morgantown and Monongalia Co. - just need to keep you guys in check
For WV, yes, good growth, but my county in NC (Johnston) has grown by 38.5% IN JUST TEN YEARS. Now that's real growth. But that's not to take anything away from Morgantown and Monongalia Co. - just need to keep you guys in check
For NC, yes, good growth, but Shanghai China has grown 6 million people with a rate higher than 38% IN JUST TEN YEARS. Now that's real growth, But that's not to take anything away from Johnson NC and company - just need to keep you guys in check.
For WV Morgantown has good growth. other places have better growth. Johnson county might have good growth for NC, but it is not a fast growing place compared to other places. By WV standards both Mon county and Johnson county would be fast growing, but only one of them is in WV, which is a state doing poorly. The other one is in the fast growing state of NC, which makes its growth much less impressive. Also, when you add the student population to Mon Countys growth rate, it would probably come up at around 30%.
What are you talking about? You need to reread this forum. I never made any claims about its population prior. THat was an argument you were having with CG.
Also, that is the population for the 10 square miles of Morgantown proper. It doesnt include the 30k students, they are not counted, nor does it include the 15k people who live in the 20 square miles around Morgantown.
Census is pretty irrelevant and inaccurate way of measuring people. It is not based on how many people live in an area. Morgantown could have 1 million people living in it, and have none of them counted because they didnt register as residents.
The actual number of people living in Morgantown is around 70k.
The census does not count people by how many of them are registered in anything. It's a simple as close to possible head count. You are asked how many people live in your household. They do not have to be registered anywhere.
Is the census spot on? No, but it's hardly as far off as to only be counting people somehow registered in something or another.
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