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Charlotte area population statistics


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Yeah, my statement was kind of in jest, but I do think (hope) that from a business and entertainment standpoint, Charlotte's national recognition will eventually become one that will stand alone from other Cha-, US cities.  As of right now, Charlotte certainly does not get that kind of nation-wide coverage in the media that would justify it... which is why we celebrate when Colbert or Fallon mentions us.

 

 

Correct.  And it is fun to celebrate!

 

I'm always pretty surprised how unknown and at the same time, well known, Charlotte can be.  I've met people abroad that knew exactly what and where it was.  But then I'll be on Sporcle taking a dumb geography quiz (because I consider that fun) and Raleigh will be a more commonly guessed answer than Charlotte on like, a US City Population quiz.  It's the worst Jerry.

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The state name thing is all about the Associated Press grammar rules, not about a publication in particular showing ignorance of the fact that Charlotte is in NC. Until the AP changes things, you should continue to see the NC after Charlotte in any media, like it or not. See below:

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/735/02/

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Correct.  And it is fun to celebrate!

 

I'm always pretty surprised how unknown and at the same time, well known, Charlotte can be.  I've met people abroad that knew exactly what and where it was.  But then I'll be on Sporcle taking a dumb geography quiz (because I consider that fun) and Raleigh will be a more commonly guessed answer than Charlotte on like, a US City Population quiz.  It's the worst Jerry.

OMG! I thought I was the only one that plays geography games on Sporcle!! Will you marry me? :)

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What's amazing is that in Eastern Asia, it seems that everyone knows Winston-Salem for the cigarettes. You tell them you are from NC, and that is the first thing that comes to mind - "Oh, Winston-Salem, where they make the cigarettes?" They have no idea where the hell Charlotte or Raleigh is, but they know Winston-Salem!

On the flipside, the DNC did give us some serious rep internationally. I think I have mentioned it before, but it seems like everyone in Dubai knows about Charlotte because of the DNC. They were just amazed that this city hosted the president and others. The comments on Eastern Asia were before that...I haven't been to Eastern Asia since 2012, so I can't comment on if the DNC had any affect on our recognition there. But the Arabs give Charlotte some serious cred, which honestly surprised me.

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What's amazing is that in Eastern Asia, it seems that everyone knows Winston-Salem for the cigarettes. You tell them you are from NC, and that is the first thing that comes to mind - "Oh, Winston-Salem, where they make the cigarettes?" They have no idea where the hell Charlotte or Raleigh is, but they know Winston-Salem!

On the flipside, the DNC did give us some serious rep internationally. I think I have mentioned it before, but it seems like everyone in Dubai knows about Charlotte because of the DNC. They were just amazed that this city hosted the president and others. The comments on Eastern Asia were before that...I haven't been to Eastern Asia since 2012, so I can't comment on if the DNC had any affect on our recognition there. But the Arabs give Charlotte some serious cred, which honestly surprised me.

If they really want to give us some cred, they could send a daily Qatar Airways 787 our way.

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  • 2 weeks later...

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/texas/article/Census-Texas-tops-list-of-fast-growing-cities-5497032.php

 

This is great news for Charlotte!  Also, it says that Huntersville is over 50,000 now.  Looks like they are growing fast out there as well.   It's interesting to see that CLT gained more people than Dallas city proper.   

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Raleigh N&O has a pretty neat little population estimate graphic to play with:

 

http://www.newsobserver.com/content/multimedia/interactive/census/ncpopulation.html

 

 

Raleigh proper only added 8,000 people over a one year period in comparison to our 18,000.  Durham added 6,000.  Cary added 6,000 as well.  The Triangle really have people moving all over the place, just in no central location.

 

Charlotte drives the Metrolina population, at least in NC.  There was not a single city in the metro outside of Charlotte that added more than 1500 people.

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Raleigh N&O has a pretty neat little population estimate graphic to play with:

 

http://www.newsobserver.com/content/multimedia/interactive/census/ncpopulation.html

 

 

Raleigh proper only added 8,000 people over a one year period in comparison to our 18,000.  Durham added 6,000.  Cary added 6,000 as well.  The Triangle really have people moving all over the place, just in no central location.

 

Charlotte drives the Metrolina population, at least in NC.  There was not a single city in the metro outside of Charlotte that added more than 1500 people.

Which makes me wonder why I hear people saying that one day Raleigh will surpass Charlotte in population.

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Raleigh N&O has a pretty neat little population estimate graphic to play with:

http://www.newsobserver.com/content/multimedia/interactive/census/ncpopulation.html

Raleigh proper only added 8,000 people over a one year period in comparison to our 18,000. Durham added 6,000. Cary added 6,000 as well. The Triangle really have people moving all over the place, just in no central location.

Charlotte drives the Metrolina population, at least in NC. There was not a single city in the metro outside of Charlotte that added more than 1500 people.

You mean 15,000? :)

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This is a Charlotte forum so no offense to any Triangulars reading....

Would you guys say Charlotte is growing smart (yes we sprawl but I think the trend is inwards / especially as a metro)

And is The Triangles growth smart also in a different smart than ours or not?

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This is a Charlotte forum so no offense to any Triangulars reading....

Would you guys say Charlotte is growing smart (yes we sprawl but I think the trend is inwards / especially as a metro)

And is The Triangles growth smart also in a different smart than ours or not?

Our growth certainly appears encouraging from an urban standpoint. The Triangle is just so disjointed; it offers similar ammenities of Metrolina, they are just broken up among 3 mid-major cities (maybe 4 even).

Charlotte just has the advantage if being the big fish in a small pond.

But seeing 18,000 people move into the city with only minor bumps in our suburban communities certainly seems to correlate to smart growth. It could be that Raleigh is doing the same, it is just on a smaller scale due to competition with Durham, Cary and Chapel Hill.

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^This conversation speaks to something that I recognized in Raleigh when in school there in the late 90s... The triangle would like smart growth.  They have lots of smart people that know what smart growth is and means.  But, as you have alluded to above, they are not a single political entity, and there is seldom agreement among the political entities on major investments to help facilitate smart growth (like light rail).  When I saw Charlotte adopt their plan for light rail around that time, I made my decision on where I wanted to live.

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  • 1 month later...

Interesting Census data tidbit for the day:  They released numbers for Hispanic household and Mecklenburg has the largest population of all counties with  124k .   Our MSA though (if I added right) is more than 200K.   

 

I had always heard claims that the Triad had the largest Latino population but that's looking to be incorrect based on the census numbers,

 

Anyway - see charts  for county by county breakdown:

Edited by Urbanity
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This is a Charlotte forum so no offense to any Triangulars reading....

Would you guys say Charlotte is growing smart (yes we sprawl but I think the trend is inwards / especially as a metro)

And is The Triangles growth smart also in a different smart than ours or not?

I would say other posters are right in that you can't categorize the triangle's growth patterns in any one way. If you look at the western half of the triangle, you will find probably an even stronger focus on smart growth than in Charlotte. Orange County and Chapel Hill have basically established UGBs, similar to Portland or Miami - which is a more radical step than anything I've heard out of Charlotte. Durham city/county are probably pretty comparable to Charlotte/Mecklenburg. This shows in the fact that Durham and Orange have implemented a transit sales tax and are pursuing light rail on their own in spite of being much smaller than Charlotte.

The eastern half of the Triangle is much different.

Raleigh itself seems to be following roughly the same road as Charlotte, with quite a lot of dense urban infill going on in the center of the city without completely forsaking suburban expansion. Raleigh is much smaller in population than Charlotte, so of course the sheer numbers are lower here than in Charlotte. Raleigh also doesn't have the banking industry anchoring its downtown, but Raleigh's flagship university is an urban campus so that makes up for it somewhat.

The picture changes when you zoom out to county level. Wake county is geographically very large, so the suburbs and unincorporated areas comprise the majority of the population and as such are more influential than they are in Charlotte. Charlotte doesn't really have an equivalent to Cary for example. Imagine combining Concord and Ballantyne, and dropping it about where South Park Mall is and you get an idea. The suburbs around the Triangle, even Cary, are all dabbling in smart growth to some extent, but in comparison with Raleigh or Charlotte they're proceeding much more cautiously. Some are afraid of slowing down the growth that has brought them prosperity; others are more focused on preserving their suburban status quo.

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  • 1 month later...

Here's a cool fact for any and all demographics and population statistics followers. Charlotte has densified fairly rapidly since the 2010 census. In fact, average population density has risen by almost 200 people per square mile in the last three years. At the current rate, Chalotte's population density will likely exceed 3100 people per square mile by the 2020 census.

That would put us on par with Atlanta and Tampa (currently). Not bad at all. Love to see the city adding density. I'd really love to see is get into Denver's current range, roughly 4000/square mile. I feel like that's our magic number. It'd require us to have a city population of roughly 1.2million. So it's not going to happen tomorrow, but certainly possible by 2040 if current growth holds.

Edited by ah59396
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