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Congrats to Wake. Comparing the regions, the Triangle had 2 counties in the top 10 and Metrolina had 3 counties in the top 10. Orange was #3 and Union, Mecklenburg, and Cabarrus were 4, 6, and 9 respectively.
2013 Census estimates are out and neither Mecklenburg nor Wake officially reached 1 million as of last July. :-(
Mecklenburg: 990,977
Wake: 974,289
Based on the Census estimate trends, Mecklenburg will pass 1 million when reported next year. Wake will likely be a few thousand short and will pass 1 million when reported in two years.
Triangle's CSA numbers stand at 2,037,430
Metrolina's CSA numbers stand at 2,493,040
Interestingly enough, some of the micropolitan areas in both CSAs are actually hurting growth numbers with their estimates of decreasing population.
Based on the 2012 numbers and rankings, Charlotte has probably passed Sacramento in CSA population and the Triangle is nipping at the heels of Milwaukee.
2013 Census estimates are out and neither Mecklenburg nor Wake officially reached 1 million as of last July.
Mecklenburg: 990,977
Wake: 974,289
Based on the Census estimate trends, Mecklenburg will pass 1 million when reported next year. Wake will likely be a few thousand short and will pass 1 million when reported in two years.
Triangle's CSA numbers stand at 2,037,430
Metrolina's CSA numbers stand at 2,493,040
I was just about to say something about this. Here is a link from the Detroit Free Press where you can see the counties and states that have been released. Take a look at the state you have in mind and select the state that you want. Here are some findings for the Charlotte area. If someone wouldn't mind doing the same for the Triangle that would be appreciated. The percentages are growth from 2012 estimates.
Cabarrus 187,226 +1.66%
Gaston 209,420 +0.68%
Iredell 164,517 +1.12%
Lincoln 79,740 +0.59%
Mecklenburg 990,977 +2.38%
Rowan 138,323 +0.23%
Union 212,756 +2.04%
Chester 32,578 -0.11%
Lancaster 80,458 +1.65%
York 239,363 +2.03%
Mecklenburg added the most residents in the state and grew the fastest percentage wise. I suspect that by 2020 Wake will still out gain Meck and become the most populated county in the state. Mecklenburg and Wake were the only counties to add more than 10,000 residents.
I was just about to say something about this. Here is a link from the Detroit Free Press where you can see the counties and states that have been released. Take a look at the state you have in mind and select the state that you want. Here are some findings for the Charlotte area. If someone wouldn't mind doing the same for the Triangle that would be appreciated. The percentages are growth from 2012 estimates.
Cabarrus 187,226 +1.66%
Gaston 209,420 +0.68%
Iredell
Lincoln 79,740 +0.59%
Mecklenburg 990,977 +2.38%
Rowan 138,323 +0.23%
Union 212,756 +2.04%
Mecklenburg added the most residents in the state and grew the fastest percentage wise. I suspect that by 2020 Wake will still out gain Meck and become the most populated county in the state. Mecklenburg and Wake were the only counties to add more than 10,000 residents.
5 years ago, I would've agreed with the bolded comment above. Today, I'm not so sure. For some reason, Wake county (much like Union county) has seen a major slow down in growth since the 2010 census. Maybe the estimates for these two counties are off.... Or maybe there is a real slow down going on?
It's a known fact that extreme high growth is rarely sustainable for extended periods of time (ie Phoenix, Vegas, Miami). Raleigh/Wake (so it seems) is not the exception to this rule that some of us thought. Going forward, Wake county could begin to add more residents per year than Meck like it has in the past. 1,000 more residents annually would take Wake 16 years to catch Meck; 2,000 more would take 8 years. Either scenario would push the Wake population take-over of Meck past the 2020 census.
Though its only one year, the 2013 numbers could be the start of a new trend. I've long felt that Meck could counter Wake's land area advantage with intense urbanization efforts within Charlotte's underutilized core. IMO, we are seeing the census results of those urbanization efforts. Land area is only an advantage if both areas are 100% sprawl. In Charlotte's case, Meck is losing suburban families to neighboring counties while gaining a larger number of folks who wish to pay $1,200 per month for an apartment.
^^^Though the folks at yahoo were surprised, I'm not. Big city amenities with small town prices has been part of Charlotte's DNA since the mid 1990s. On the other hand, Charlotte is growing (ie the small town prices won't last too much longer). By 2020, Charlotte's MSA population could be somewhere between 2.6 and 2.7 million (3 million-plus before 2030). Affordability will certainly be a thing of the past for Charlotte in the coming decades.
5 years ago, I would've agreed with the bolded comment above. Today, I'm not so sure. For some reason, Wake county (much like Union county) has seen a major slow down in growth since the 2010 census. Maybe the estimates for these two counties are off.... Or maybe there is a real slow down going on?
It's a known fact that extreme high growth is rarely sustainable for extended periods of time (ie Phoenix, Vegas, Miami). Raleigh/Wake (so it seems) is not the exception to this rule that some of us thought. Going forward, Wake county could begin to add more residents per year than Meck like it has in the past. 1,000 more residents annually would take Wake 16 years to catch Meck; 2,000 more would take 8 years. Either scenario would push the Wake population take-over of Meck past the 2020 census.
Though its only one year, the 2013 numbers could be the start of a new trend. I've long felt that Meck could counter Wake's land area advantage with intense urbanization efforts within Charlotte's underutilized core. IMO, we are seeing the census results of those urbanization efforts. Land area is only an advantage if both areas are 100% sprawl. In Charlotte's case, Meck is losing suburban families to neighboring counties while gaining a larger number of folks who wish to pay $1,200 per month for an apartment.
^^^Though the folks at yahoo were surprised, I'm not. Big city amenities with small town prices has been part of Charlotte's DNA since the mid 1990s. On the other hand, Charlotte is growing (ie the small town prices won't last too much longer). By 2020, Charlotte's MSA population could be somewhere between 2.6 and 2.7 million (3 million-plus before 2030). Affordability will certainly be a thing of the past for Charlotte in the coming decades.
You bring up some interesting info urban. I was actually surprised that Mecklenburg out gained Wake. Of course we will have to see how the rest of decade pans out. I suspect that both will slow down but that Mecklenburg will slow down more than Wake. It's good to see that Charlotte is still offering a good bang for the buck but we all know that that won't last long.
Of the counties in the Charlotte region the one that concerns me the most is Gaston. Gaston at one point was looking like it could have been Winston. But then textiles started to decline and so did Gaston. Real sad.
Holy cow! I just read this article. And that is crazy the roughly half of the states growth came from just Wake and Mecklenburg counties. As you can see from my first post in this thread Charlotte and the Triangle are carrying NC forward. But I didn't think it was to this extent.
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Or maybe there is a real slow down going on?
