The Census Bureau released its latest population estimates for cities and towns across the country on Thursday. As of July 1, 2013, Charlotte is estimated to have a population of 775,202, up 5.4 percent from the population of 735,780 when the 2010 Census was taken. And yes, Charlotte grew faster than Raleigh.
I can find a detailed Charlotte Observer story on the population trends, but the Winston-Salem Journal had a nice piece out on Thursday. A highlight:
Gayle Anderson, the president and chief executive of the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, said that what she’s been hearing from business leaders is that the city has experienced “slow, slow, slow improvement” in the job market that could be influencing the population growth here.
“We have never grown at the rate that the Triangle has, and quite frankly that is not necessarily a bad thing because you can outstrip your roads and so forth,” Anderson said. “The urban areas are continuing to grow and the rural areas are continuing to shrink.”
Over a longer two-year period from 2010 to 2012, Charlotte added almost 44,000 people and remained the state’s largest city by a wide margin. But three of the cities in the Triangle region – Raleigh, Durham and Cary – together added almost 41,000 people during that time. Greensboro added about 7,400 people during the two-year period.
