99 replies to this topic

[Hankster]

The Census Bureau has released population estimates for cities for 2005. Here's a list of all the cities in Tennessee with over 10,000 people, their population in the 2000 Census followed by their 2005 population estimate. All cities which have annexed over 1,000 residents since the 2000 census have been noted. At the rate Murfreesboro is growing, it will be the 6th city to reach 100,000 by 2008. For sheer rate of growth, nothing compares to Spring Hill's 150% growth rate in only 5 years!

1. Memphis............650,100....672,277 (Annexed 32,853)
2. Nashville............545,524....549,110
3. Knoxville...........173,890....180,130 (Annexed 1,478)
4. Chattanooga......155,554....154,762
5. Clarksville.........103,455....112,878
6. Murfreesboro.......68,816......86,793
7. Jackson..............59,643......62,099
8. Johnson City.......55,649......58,718
9. Franklin..............41,842......53,311 (Annexed 3,063)
10. Hendersonville...40,620......44,876
11. Kingsport..........44,905......44,130
12. Bartlett.............40,543......43,263
13. Cleveland.........37,192......38,186
14. Collierville........31,872......37,564
15. Germantown.....37,348......37,480
16. Columbia..........33,055......33,777
17. Smyrna.............25,569......33,497 (Annexed 1,622)
18. Brentwood.........23,445......32,426 (Annexed 2,559)
19. Cookeville.........23,923......27,743 (Annexed 1,990)
20. Oak Ridge.........27,387......27,297
21. Gallatin.............23,230......26,720
22. Morristown........24,965......26,187
23. La Vergne.........18,687......25,885
24. Maryville...........23,120......25,851
25. Bristol...............24,821......24,994
26. Lebanon............20,235......23,043
27. East Ridge.........20,640......19,821
28. Farragut............17,720......19,054
29. Tullahoma.........17,994......18,909
30. Shelbyville........16,105......18,648
31. Mount Juliet.......12,366......18,099 (Annexed 1,620)
32. Dyersburg.........17,452......17,466
33. Spring Hill...........7,715......17,148
34. Springfield.........14,329......15,916
35. Greeneville........15,198......15,383
36. Goodlettesville....13,780......15,320
37. Sevierville..........11,757......14,788
38. Elizabethton........13,372......13,944
39. Athens...............13,220......13,878
40. McMinnville.........12,749......13,242
41. Dickson..............12,244......12,873
42. Soddy-Daisy.......11,530......11,985
43. Red Bank...........12,418......11,726
44. Lawrenceburg.....10,796......10,911
45. Lewisburg...........10,413......10,790
46. Union City..........10,876......10,788
47. Brownsville.........10,748......10,720
48. Crossville.............8,981......10,424
49. Portland...............8,458......10,342
50. Millington............10,433......10,306
51. Martin................10,515......10,151

[HABANERO7]

Franklin, Smyrna, La Vergne, Spring Hill, Mount Juliet, Murfreesboro and Brentwood are smokin hot around the Nashville area...
It’s interesting that in the Tri-Cities area Bristol and Johnson City gained while Kingsport lost.
Red Bank, East Ridge and Chattanooga all showed losses in Hamilton County.
Farragut, Knoxville and Maryville all showed gains in the Knox/Blount County.
Germantown has slowed down considerably while Collierville and Bartlett are still seeing growth in the city limits around Memphis.
It seems like the small cities in the northwest are holding or dropping just a bit. A car plant in that area would be a huge shot to the arm indeed.
My hometown is ranked 13th on the list with 38,186 est. I don’t guess I’ll argue with that figure, growth is booming here inside the city with commercial but the residential growth is happening just outside the city limits. Outside the city over 600 housing starts are being issued a year. While inside the city limits the number is more like 150-200.

[flith]

To get the complete picture for the Chattanooga area the North Georgia cities need to be shown:
pop % change
Fort Oglethorpe 8864 +29.2%
Ringgold 2793 +15.3%
Trenton 2155 +11.0%
LaFayette 6753 +0.7%
Rossville 3416 -3.7%

Dalton* 32140 15.%
Dalton is not part of Chattanooga's MSA, but borders it.


Most of the Chattanooga MSA growth has been in N. Georgia for the past 15 years.

If Chattanooga were in the geographic center of Hamilton County instead of the southern end these figures might have reflected more on Hamilton County instead of the general area.

[nashvol85]

Well I have to go to work now, but I've got a little something planned to do with this info later.

[Hankster]

nashvol85, on Jun 21 2006, 04:45 PM, said:

Well I have to go to work now, but I've got a little something planned to do with this info later.

I 'm looking forward to it. I know it will be good!

[nashvol85]

I took the numbers from 2005, compared it to the growth since 2000, and added the average yearly gain to the total population to get a guestiment for what the population is about right now. Of course it isn't scientific, but it shouldn't be too far off from the actual...now due to annexations, I did have to alter my method with those specific cities.

What did I do? I took the city population's current estimate (say Murfreesboro's 86,793) and subtracted the base population (68,816) to get the growth over the 5 years (17,977), then divided that total by 5 (3,595.4) and then added the yearly average to the 2005 figure to equal the guestimated 2006 population (90,388).

* I first subtracted the annexed population from the current population before I averaged the growth from over the 5 year period...(ie, Franklin: 53,311 - 3,063 = 50,248 - 41,842 = 8,406 / 5 = 1,681.2 . . . 53,311 + 1,681 = 54,992)...I did this because not all the time when a city annexes land that land is growing...it might already be fully developed.

** Memphis...the only real anomaly that there is to deal with...gained fewer people than it annexed (22,177 gained, annexed 32,853)...so it actually LOST 10,676 people during that time...so it's hard to predict what the population actually is in 2006...

1. Memphis............670,142**
2. Nashville............549,827
3. Knoxville...........181,082*
4. Chattanooga......154,604
5. Clarksville.........114,763
6. Murfreesboro......90,388
7. Jackson..............62,590
8. Johnson City.......59,332
9. Franklin..............54,992*
10. Hendersonville...45,727
11. Kingsport..........43,975
12. Bartlett.............43,807
13. Collierville........38,702
14. Cleveland.........38,385
15. Germantown.....37,506
16. Smyrna.............34,758*
17. Columbia..........33,921
18. Brentwood.........33,710*
19. Cookeville.........28,109*
20. Gallatin.............27,418
21. La Vergne.........27,324
22. Oak Ridge.........27,279
23. Morristown........26,431
24. Maryville...........26,397
25. Bristol...............25,028
26. Lebanon............23,605
27. East Ridge.........19,657
28. Farragut............19,321
29. Shelbyville........19,157
30. Tullahoma.........19,092
31. Spring Hill...........19,035
32. Mount Juliet.......18,922*
33. Dyersburg.........17,469
34. Springfield.........16,233
35. Goodlettesville....15,628
36. Greeneville........15,420
37. Sevierville..........15,394
38. Elizabethton........14,058
39. Athens...............14,010
40. McMinnville.........13,341
41. Dickson..............12,999
42. Soddy-Daisy.......12,076
43. Red Bank...........11,588
44. Lawrenceburg.....10,934
45. Lewisburg...........10,865
46. Union City..........10,770
47. Portland.............10,719
48. Brownsville.........10,714
49. Crossville...........10,713
50. Millington............10,281
51. Martin................10,078

[northernbizzkit1]

Germantown is slowing down in growth due to the fact that it is at build-out...no land left except for large horse farms that developers and buying and using as zero-lot line homes or mcmansions...blah.

[AmandaHugginkiss]

All this time, I thought Nashville was the largest city in Tennessee. You learn something new everyday. duh...

[nashvol85]

AmandaHugginkiss, on Jun 26 2006, 02:43 PM, said:

All this time, I thought Nashville was the largest city in Tennessee. You learn something new everyday. duh...

Memphis has been the largest city for a long time now, but Nashville took the title of largest metro back in the 90's...

[fieldmarshaldj]

AmandaHugginkiss, on Jun 26 2006, 01:43 PM, said:

All this time, I thought Nashville was the largest city in Tennessee. You learn something new everyday. duh...

Nashville hasn't been the largest city in Tennessee since 1890. Part of the reason that it captured that position at the time was the disastrous Yellow fever epidemic that struck Memphis in the 1870s that was so bad, people fled the city en masse and the city charter had to be surrendered. By 1900, Memphis vaulted past Nashville and hasn't surrendered the title since (although as Nashvol pointed out, it lost the title of most populous Metro Area).

[Hankster]

nashvol85, on Jun 21 2006, 11:41 PM, said:

I took the numbers from 2005, compared it to the growth since 2000, and added the average yearly gain to the total population to get a guestiment for what the population is about right now. Of course it isn't scientific, but it shouldn't be too far off from the actual...now due to annexations, I did have to alter my method with those specific cities.

What did I do? I took the city population's current estimate (say Murfreesboro's 86,793) and subtracted the base population (68,816) to get the growth over the 5 years (17,977), then divided that total by 5 (3,595.4) and then added the yearly average to the 2005 figure to equal the guestimated 2006 population (90,388).

* I first subtracted the annexed population from the current population before I averaged the growth from over the 5 year period...(ie, Franklin: 53,311 - 3,063 = 50,248 - 41,842 = 8,406 / 5 = 1,681.2 . . . 53,311 + 1,681 = 54,992)...I did this because not all the time when a city annexes land that land is growing...it might already be fully developed.

** Memphis...the only real anomaly that there is to deal with...gained fewer people than it annexed (22,177 gained, annexed 32,853)...so it actually LOST 10,676 people during that time...so it's hard to predict what the population actually is in 2006...

1. Memphis............670,142**
2. Nashville............549,827
3. Knoxville...........181,082*
4. Chattanooga......154,604
5. Clarksville.........114,763
6. Murfreesboro......90,388
7. Jackson..............62,590
8. Johnson City.......59,332
9. Franklin..............54,992*
10. Hendersonville...45,727
11. Kingsport..........43,975
12. Bartlett.............43,807
13. Collierville........38,702
14. Cleveland.........38,385
15. Germantown.....37,506
16. Smyrna.............34,758*
17. Columbia..........33,921
18. Brentwood.........33,710*
19. Cookeville.........28,109*
20. Gallatin.............27,418
21. La Vergne.........27,324
22. Oak Ridge.........27,279
23. Morristown........26,431
24. Maryville...........26,397
25. Bristol...............25,028
26. Lebanon............23,605
27. East Ridge.........19,657
28. Farragut............19,321
29. Shelbyville........19,157
30. Tullahoma.........19,092
31. Spring Hill...........19,035
32. Mount Juliet.......18,922*
33. Dyersburg.........17,469
34. Springfield.........16,233
35. Goodlettesville....15,628
36. Greeneville........15,420
37. Sevierville..........15,394
38. Elizabethton........14,058
39. Athens...............14,010
40. McMinnville.........13,341
41. Dickson..............12,999
42. Soddy-Daisy.......12,076
43. Red Bank...........11,588
44. Lawrenceburg.....10,934
45. Lewisburg...........10,865
46. Union City..........10,770
47. Portland.............10,719
48. Brownsville.........10,714
49. Crossville...........10,713
50. Millington............10,281
51. Martin................10,078

Very interesting projections. By the 2010 census, there will be significant changes in the list. I wouldn't be surprised if Murfreesboro isn't considerably over 100,000.....possibly 110,000. Franklin may pass both Johnson City and Jackson, moving all the way to 7th place. And Spring Hill could go to well over 30,000 and vault all the way up to as high as 15th place. That's amazing when you consider the fact that Spring Hill only had about 2,000 people in 1990!!!

[fieldmarshaldj]

Hankster, on Jun 27 2006, 08:36 PM, said:

Very interesting projections. By the 2010 census, there will be significant changes in the list. I wouldn't be surprised if Murfreesboro isn't considerably over 100,000.....possibly 110,000. Franklin may pass both Johnson City and Jackson, moving all the way to 7th place. And Spring Hill could go to well over 30,000 and vault all the way up to as high as 15th place. That's amazing when you consider the fact that Spring Hill only had about 2,000 people in 1990!!!

Actually, even smaller than that, only 1,464 in 1990.

[Hankster]

The scorching growth of Spring Hill, Tennessee's fastest growing city, led me to do a little research. Among all the cities in the U.S above 10,000 in population according the the latest Census Bureau estimates, how high would Spring hill rank? Here's what I found out.

There are exactly 2,827 cities in the U.S. with a population of 10,000 or more.

Spring Hill grew from 7,892 residents to 17,148 residents from 2000 to 2005. That computes to a growth of 117.3% in only 5 years. Among all the 2,827 cities with 10,000 or more residents, Spring Hill ranked 19th in the U.S. in growth during that period.

Spring Hill grew from 14,511 residents to 17,148 residents from 2004 to 2005. That computes to a growth of 18.2% in only one year. Among all the 2,827 cities with 10,000 or more residents, Spring Hill ranked 14th in the U.S. in growth during that period. The only cities in the South that grew faster than Spring Hill during the past year were 3 cities in Texas and 2 in Florida.

The fastest growing city in the U.S. during both the five and one years periods was Herriman, UT which grew from 2,042 residents to 11,226, a growth of 449.8% for 2000 to 2005, and a growth rate or 32.9% for the past year.

Spring Hill is smoking hot right now!

[Justiceham]

Hankster, on Jun 30 2006, 07:42 PM, said:

The scorching growth of Spring Hill, Tennessee's fastest growing city, led me to do a little research. Among all the cities in the U.S above 10,000 in population according the the latest Census Bureau estimates, how high would Spring hill rank? Here's what I found out.

There are exactly 2,827 cities in the U.S. with a population of 10,000 or more.

Spring Hill grew from 7,892 residents to 17,148 residents from 2000 to 2005. That computes to a growth of 117.3% in only 5 years. Among all the 2,827 cities with 10,000 or more residents, Spring Hill ranked 19th in the U.S. in growth during that period.

Spring Hill grew from 14,511 residents to 17,148 residents from 2004 to 2005. That computes to a growth of 18.2% in only one year. Among all the 2,827 cities with 10,000 or more residents, Spring Hill ranked 14th in the U.S. in growth during that period. The only cities in the South that grew faster than Spring Hill during the past year were 3 cities in Texas and 2 in Florida.

The fastest growing city in the U.S. during both the five and one years periods was Herriman, UT which grew from 2,042 residents to 11,226, a growth of 449.8% for 2000 to 2005, and a growth rate or 32.9% for the past year.

Spring Hill is smoking hot right now!

And Maury and Williamson Medical Centers don't want them to build a new hospital?

[Hankster]

A little more trivia from the data analysis I did recently:

Of all the cities in the US (any population), Murfreesboro ranks 87th in the number of people added in the past five years. This high ranking was achieved despite the fact that Murfreesboro has less than 100,000 people.

There is a four way tie for the smallest town in the US. They are:

New Amsterdam, IN
Goss, MO
Hoot Owl, OK
Lost Springs, WY

The population of all four towns is 1!

[rocky top buzz]

Wasn't Knoxville or Chattanooga at one point the largest city in Tennessee? How did Memphis capture that ranking in the first place?

[qwertycc]

Location. The Mississippi River was one of the most powerful economic forces of the mid to late 1800's when Memphis was capturing Tennessee's title as most populous city. East, and subsequently Middle, TN cities would have been larger initially because they were founded sometime before Memphis, but it didn't take long for Memphis to take over as largest and most important economically primarily due to the Mississippi and the trade, traffic and convenience of major river transportation.

It lost the title briefly in the late 1800's due to the yellow fever epidemic, but took back over thanks again to the Mississippi River and the increased importance of Memphis as a major cotton hub.

[HABANERO7]

Good point about the River, The East Tennessee area was still quite primitive economically in the 1800’s. The majority of the economy was rural farming and lumber cutting operations with the obvious exception of a few locations where heavy industry and mining operations were taking place. Overall East Tennessee didn’t see a major upswing until the introduction of the TVA in the 1930's.

[fieldmarshaldj]

rocky top buzz, on Jul 2 2006, 09:19 PM, said:

Wasn't Knoxville or Chattanooga at one point the largest city in Tennessee? How did Memphis capture that ranking in the first place?

I went to check on that myself. Now I know Chattanooga was a rather small community in the 19th century until fairly late, but I surely thought Knoxville must've been largest at some point. What I found from the Census Bureau was that there were no urban entity listed in TN until 1830 (so whatever the largest community was from after statehood in 1796 until that time I couldn't ascertain -- surely there must be a website that lists the census figures aside from counties). From 1830 on, this is what I found (note the figures in parenthesis are its national ranking):

1830: Nashville city, TN................. 5,566 (50th)

1840: Nashville city, TN................. 6,929 (58th)

1850: Nashville city, TN................. 10,165 (63rd)
Memphis city, TN................... 8,841 (73rd)

1860: Memphis city, TN................... 22,623 (38th)
Nashville city, TN................. 16,988 (54th)

1870: Memphis city, TN................... 40,226 (32nd)
Nashville city, TN................. 25,865 (52nd)

1880: Nashville city, TN................. 43,350 (40th)
Memphis city, TN................... 33,592 (54th)

1890: Nashville city, TN................. 76,168 (38th)
Memphis city, TN................... 64,495 (43rd)

1900: Memphis city, TN................... 102,320 (37th)
Nashville city, TN................. 80,865 (47th)

1910: Memphis city, TN......... 131,105 (37th)
Nashville city, TN....... 110,364 (45th)

1920: Memphis city, TN......... 162,351 (40th)
Nashville city, TN....... 118,342 (56th)
Knoxville city, TN....... 77,818 (88th)

1930: Memphis city, TN......... 253,143 (36th)
Nashville city, TN....... 153,866 (51st)
Chattanooga city, TN..... 119,798 (67th)
Knoxville city, TN....... 105,802 (81st)

1940: Memphis city, TN......... 292,942 (32nd)
Nashville city, TN....... 167,402 (50th)
Chattanooga city, TN..... 128,163 (66th)
Knoxville city, TN....... 111,580 (77th)

1950: Memphis city, TN......... 396,000 (26th)
Nashville city, TN....... 174,307 (56th)
Chattanooga city, TN..... 131,041 (74th)
Knoxville city, TN....... 124,769 (84th)

1960: Memphis city, TN......... 497,524 (22nd)
Nashville city, TN....... 170,874 (73rd)
Chattanooga city, TN..... 130,009 (93rd)

1970: Memphis city, TN *....... 623,530 (17th)
Nashville-Davidson, TN *. 448,003 (30th)
Knoxville city, TN....... 174,587 (76th)

1980: Memphis city, TN *....... 646,356 (14th)
Nashville-Davidson, TN *. 455,651 (25th)
Knoxville city, TN....... 175,030 (77th)
Chattanooga city, TN..... 169,565 (87th)

1990: Memphis city, TN *....... 610,337 (18th)
Nashville-Davidson, TN *. 488,374 (25th)

2000: Memphis city, TN *....... 650,100 (18th)
Nashville-Davidson, TN *. 545,535 (26th)

This was the "top 100" list, and you'll note a few times that Knoxville dropped out of the top 100 in 1960, only to reemerge (following considerable annexations) in 1970 and Chattanooga dropped off in 1970, only to reemerge in 1980 (again, following considerable annexations), but both dropped off for good in 1990.

[rocky top buzz]

It seems I always here so much about Chattanooga's importance as a railroad hub (even moreso that Atlanta), but statistically it doesn't appear to have mattered as far as population.

Let's forget about the past and talk about now. How has Nashville exploded in Metropolitan growth leaving behind Memphis? I would venture to say jobs, a larger area for growth, and possibly more national exposure (Memphis can only exploit Elvis for so long before the people who were big Elvis fans die off). Any other thoughts?