In
growth, Charlotte No. 2 in U.S.
(Source: The Charlotte Observer, April 1, 2001)
Only Austin grew faster;
metro area 33rd in size
By SCOTT DODD TED MELLNIK
Staff Writers
Charlotte was the country's second-fastest-growing major city during the 1990s,
thanks to a crush of newcomers and some of the nation's most aggressive annexation laws.
The surge brought Charlotte's population to 540,828, making it the 26th-largest
city, up from 35th a decade ago.
Along the way, the Queen City passed Portland, Ore., (the Rose City), New
Orleans (Fat City), Cleveland (the Comeback City) and just plain Kansas City (the one in
Missouri).
No one leapfrogged Charlotte. And only Austin, Texas, grew more quickly among
major cities - those with more than 500,000 residents.
It's a somewhat different story in terms of overall metro areas, where the
Charlotte region stepped up just one place, to 33rd, according to the 2000 Census.
The Observer analyzed data released over the past month from the nationwide
headcount to determine the rankings. The U.S. Census Bureau plans to release its official
lists Monday.
Charlotte came just shy of punching in as one of the nation's 25 largest
cities. Nashville, Tenn., grew enough during the '90s to keep Charlotte off the list.
How close did we come? The Queen City trails Music City by fewer than 5,000
people.
Charlotte now has more residents than Atlanta, Miami or Pittsburgh, but those
places have more populated metro areas.
In terms of the overall region, the seven-county Charlotte metro area ranks
33rd, a spot occupied by the Buffalo, N.Y., area 10 years ago. Buffalo lost population and
fell to 42nd - with many of its departures migrating to the South.
The Charlotte metro area includes Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Gaston, Lincoln,
Rowan, Union and York counties. Together they grew 29 percent during the '90s, to
1,499,293 people.
The region's growth rate seems tepid compared with places such as metropolitan
Atlanta, which grew by 45 percent, to 4.1 million.
The city of Atlanta grew just 6 percent. At 416,474 people, it's smaller than
Charlotte.
Some big cities - particularly in the Northeast - actually lost population.
Philadelphia, Detroit and Baltimore were among them.
Charlotte was a striking exception - a city that grew faster than its metro
area. That's made possible by Charlotte's ability to annex. The city's land mass went from
176 to 241 square miles during the decade, allowing it to add more than 80,000 people - a
big chunk of the population gain.
And Charlotte is set to annex 22,300 new residents on June 30. It's that
ability that drove the city's 37 percent population growth during the '90s.
Austin had a 41 percent growth rate, going from 27th to No. 16 on the list of
the nation's largest cities. Phoenix was the third fastest-growing, at 34 percent. It's
now sixth-largest, up from ninth.
Other information gleaned from national census figures:
The five largest U.S. cities remain unchanged from a decade ago. New York is at
the top, followed by Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia.
In terms of metro areas, New York, L.A. and Chicago lead the way, with
Washington-Baltimore fourth and San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose at No. 5.
- Las Vegas was the nation's fastest-growing metro area, with a more than 80
percent population gain. The city also mushroomed, jumping from 258,295 to 478,434. That
took it from 63rd to 32nd.
- Of cities with more than 50,000 residents (there are 664, by the way), Charlotte
grew the ninth fastest in number of people: 144,894.
New York City
again topped the list, with a gain of 685,714, followed by Phoenix with 337,642.
- Texas has five of the nation's 25 largest cities: Houston, Dallas, San Antonio,
Austin and El Paso.
California has four: Los Angeles, San Diego, San
Jose and San Francisco.
- Three of the 100 fastest-growing counties in the country were in North Carolina:
Johnston (86th), and Wake (97th) in the Raleigh metro area, and Hoke (99th) west of
Fayetteville. Union, the fastest-growing in the Charlotte region, was 101st, and
Mecklenburg was 196th.
South Carolina's fastest-growing county was
Beaufort, in the Lowcountry, at 150th.
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