Growing Population in the ATL

Greetings,

A recent post noted that Atlanta was the most popular destination for U-Hauls due to the fact that so many people continue to move to the area. (And yes, I am guilty of contributing to that tally.) However, this is a slight misnomer. Much of the growth experienced by Atlanta comes not from the city itself, but from the cities and counties outside the city limits.

Curious to find out the fastest growing counties? One good source of information is the website of the US Census Bureau. These fine folks are responsible for keeping a running tally of the US population, as well as information related to the population. Every ten years they create an official count of the nation's population, the next count coming in 2010.

When you get to the Census website, type 'fastest growing counties' in the search bar on the upper right side of the screen. This will pull up a series of links, many of which are press releases, to information related to this topic. One such link leads you to page with links to tables and charts, one of which is an excel table for the fastest growing counties, in terms of percentage increase, between 2000 and 2007. (Note that these are estimates, as official statistics are only 'official' during the year of the official census count).

The excel table shows that four metro Atlanta counties are in the top ten in percentage growth: Forsyth, Paulding, Henry, and Newton, with Forsyth being ranked highest at number 6. Two other metro counties, Barrow and Cherokee, are at 19 and 21 respectively. Jackson County and Walton County are to be found at 26 and 35. However, note that Effingham County, which is not in metro Atlanta, is found on the list, showing that not all the Georgia growth is confined to the Atl. Also not that much of the growing counties are located on the outer rings of the metro Atlanta.

Another possible source for news articles related to this topic is a Galileo database known as LexisNexis. Use the 'news' tab to activate the news search feature within this database. Remember that you can get the current Galileo password from your local Georgia librarian.

And now you know a bit more about why the trucks are headed to Atlanta.