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U.S. Census: Charlotte has fastest growing large city urbanized area


DCMetroRaleigh

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Among urbanized areas with populations of 1 million or more, the Charlotte, N.C.-S.C., area grew at the fastest rate, increasing by 64.6 percent, followed by the Austin, Texas, area, at 51.1 percent, and Las Vegas-Henderson, Nev., at 43.5 percent. The Charlotte and Austin areas also had the highest rates of land area change, increasing by 70.5 percent and 64.4 percent, respectively.

In 2010, urban Charlotte had an estimated 1,249,442 people within 741.49 square miles, with an average population density of 1,685 square miles.

http://www.census.go...us/cb12-50.html

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If you were to compare the growth rate in population (64.6, 51.1) with the growth rate in land area (70.5, 64.4), Charlotte (.91) would have a better ratio measure of "sprawl" than Austin (.79). However, neither Charlotte nor Austin exceeded the ideal ratio measure of 1.0 or more, where a contiguous urbanized area's gains in population would actually exceed its gains in land area.

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On another forum, someone is claiming that the new Census stats reveal that Iredell County will be added to the Charlotte MSA because the Charlotte urbanized area now includes Mooresville and Statesville, and counties with at least 50% of their population in an urbanized area qualify as central counties of a metropolitan statistical area. Can anyone verify this?

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I got this figure from MSNBC via the new census data, NC has the 3rd largest population of rural dwellers with 3,233,727 (Texas and PA are 1st and 2nd respectively.) It might be a sign to come with NC politics as the state becomes more urban, there will be issues with rural and urban areas when it comes to funding and policy. The state legislature is overwhelming rural now, and they will try their best to hold onto power.

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I am a Census junkie too. Any idea when new city and county population estimates will be released? April?

CANNNOT WAITTTTT! Its so sad, I can recite census data for pretty much every city that each of my friends are from.

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You have to wonder if the inclusion of Iredell County in the Charlotte MSA would trigger a more cooperative attitude over time, at least in terms of planning and sharing resources with Charlotte and Mecklenberg County. They would still be independent, but it would be difficult to argue that they are separate and distinct from Charlotte when they are universally treated as part of Charlotte metro.

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I got this figure from MSNBC via the new census data, NC has the 3rd largest population of rural dwellers with 3,233,727 (Texas and PA are 1st and 2nd respectively.) It might be a sign to come with NC politics as the state becomes more urban, there will be issues with rural and urban areas when it comes to funding and policy. The state legislature is overwhelming rural now, and they will try their best to hold onto power.

Virtually all states have Blue metropolitan areas and Red rural areas. Blue states just generally have more population within their metros than their hinterlands, while Red states generally have the reverse.

NC has seen more growth in its metros, and thus, it has gone from a reliably Red state to now a Swing state. The same can be said of Virginia, Florida, Colorado, and Nevada.

In contrast, Missouri has seen some loss or relatively little growth in its metros, and thus, it has gone from a reliable Swing state to a leaning Red state. And unless its metros change course, Ohio and Pennsylvania could be next.

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And I thought I was the only census nerd. Good to know I'm not alone. I too love it when the Charlotte metro passes yet another rust belt metro in population. Can't wait till we pass Cleveland, Pittsburgh etc. I'm really waiting for the 2 million mark . Of course I'm one that thinks the CSA is a better gauge of a cities true size and impact.

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Virtually all states have Blue metropolitan areas and Red rural areas. Blue states just generally have more population within their metros than their hinterlands, while Red states generally have the reverse.

NC has seen more growth in its metros, and thus, it has gone from a reliably Red state to now a Swing state. The same can be said of Virginia, Florida, Colorado, and Nevada.

In contrast, Missouri has seen some loss or relatively little growth in its metros, and thus, it has gone from a reliable Swing state to a leaning Red state. And unless its metros change course, Ohio and Pennsylvania could be next.

I wasn't really going for a Red or Blue slant with what I said, even though I know it's there. NC local politics regarding funding hasn't always been Democrats and Republicans, Democrats were in control of the state legislature for over a century, but there were Democrats from rural areas that favored spending in rural areas that benefited them such as the equity formula when it comes to highway building while the urban areas felt cheated. Hopefully with NC slowly becoming more urban, maybe urban centers like Charlotte will get its fair share of transportation priorities.

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Atlanta saw the largest absolute increase in its urban area between 2000 and 2010, growing from 1,962 square miles to 2,645, an increase of nearly 683 square miles. And though Atlanta is somewhat of an outlier in terms of its huge expansion, many other cities saw large increases in their urban areas. There were 29 that saw increases of 100 square miles or more. And 76 saw increases of 50 square miles or more.

Over that period, urbanized Charlotte grew by 306.58 square miles, the size of a small NC county. Wow!

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2012/03/americas-growing-urban-footprint/1615/

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Here is the good and the bad of the new numbers as I see it.

The bad news:

The final rules for delineating Urban Areas in the 2010 census had an extremely heavy bias against merging previously separate urban areas together. As such, Charlotte's UA is still surrounded by three smaller urban areas (Gastonia, Rock Hill, and Concord). Having said that, the only UA that I am almost certain Charlotte would have merged with would have been Concord's UA. Concord's UA poses a particular challenge for the metro area of Charlotte, as it its now the largest urbanized area in both Cabarrus and Rowan counties and the two counties could now become their own separate MSA under the OMB's official guidelines for MSA delineation (see guidelines for Central Counties).

The good news:

In addressing the concern above, Rowan and Cabbarus could both be part to the Charlotte MSA in 2013. Even though they likely qualify as Central Counties of there own separate MSA, OMB standards also allow for the merger of two MSA's into a single MSA if the central county/counties of one MSA qualify as outlying counties to another MSA under the 25% in-commute guidelines set forth in the OMB standards. In other words commuters from both counties as a whole must meet the 25% threshold. I did some extrapolation of 2000 Journey to Work data assuming the growth rates of the last 10 years were also reflective of commuting patterns and found that both counties should qualify as members of the Charlotte MSA. Furthermore, the likely addition of Iredell as a Central County to the Charlotte MSA due to it's inclusion in the Charlotte UA means that Lincoln County will probably now also meet the 25% threshold for outlying county status and be included in the Charlotte MSA.

In summary, my predicition is that the Charlotte MSA will retain all current counties and add three more: Iredell, Rowan, and Lincoln. Population of the MSA will likely be roughly 2.3 million in 2013 if that is the case. As a side note, the CSA may now include Chesterfield County SC and may eclipse 2.6 million people once those numbers are released in 2013.

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Actually it will be next week:

The Summary File 2 for these states will be available on an embargoed basis for accredited media who are registered for access Tuesday, April 10 at 10 a.m. The embargo will be lifted and the information released publicly Thursday, April 12 at 12:01 a.m.

Source:

http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/2010_census/cb12-cn27.html

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The state grew by 1.3 percent from 2010 to 2011, but new U.S. Census Bureau estimates show that 44 of the state's 100 counties — including most in Northwest North Carolina — lost residents.

The state's economic powerhouses of Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham led the way, contributing almost 45 percent of the state's growth during the first year since the 2010 census.

http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2012/apr/05/wsmain01-census-shows-people-concentrating-in-citi-ar-2128091/

Metro Raleigh ranked fifth nationally in percentage growth from 2010 to 2011, while Charlotte ranked 28th. Winston-Salem was in 161st place for growth, while Greensboro was in 145th place. Durham was in 62nd place.

Fayetteville, not among the 100 fastest-growing metro areas from 2000 to 2010, jumped into 29th place for the 2010-2011 period.

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