Metro Area Populations Grow; Shelby Still Fastest Growing County in the State

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ‚ The populations of the counties surrounding Alabama’s major metropolitan areas continue to grow, but the populations of 11 counties in the Black Belt have lost population.

The Commerce Department’s Census Bureau is scheduled to release national figures today (Thursday, March 9). The report shows the nation’s fastest-growing counties were in the South and West and, like in Alabama, near metropolitan areas.

“Shelby County is still the fastest growing county in the state,” said Annette Watters, assistant director, Center for Business and Economic Research, and Manager, Alabama State Data Center. “Shelby County has had a 47.3 percent increase since 1990. That means 47,000 more people over the past decade.”

As astonishing as Shelby County’s growth seems to be, it is not among the fastest growing counties in the United States. Its national rank for percent of change over the past decade is 61st place. No other Alabama county ranks in the top 100 nationally for rapid growth.

The counties that have added the most people are not necessarily “the fastest growing.” For example, Madison County ranks second for number of people added but ranks eighth in percent change (17.4 percent growth over nine years). Baldwin County is the second fastest growing county in the state with 38.2 percent growth since the 1990 census.

Watters said most of the growth in the fast-growing counties in Alabama comes from people who move from other places into the area. But those counties also have many more births than deaths, adding thousands of new babies to the population totals.

Jefferson, Mobile, and Madison Counties each have also added thousands of new residents from abroad, Watters said. International migration is not much of a factor for most Alabama counties, but the largest counties have a noticeable international component.

Jefferson County has had a total growth over nine years of 5,900 people. Its population has changed less than one percent over the nine-year period. Whereas the county gained about 2,770 new residents from other countries, and there were more births than deaths, 27,000 more people moved out of the county than moved in from other counties or states. Jefferson County’s out-migration has been the largest of any county in the state.

“These figures are from the Census Bureau’s Estimates Division,” Watters said. “They are the last set of estimates we will have before the 2000 census. The 2000 census may reveal that some of the patterns described here are different from what the Census Bureau thinks they are. For example, there is certainly more international migration, particularly from Latin American countries, than the estimates are accounting for. If local officials and citizens look at these estimates and feel intuitively that they are not accurate, then it is even more important than ever for 2000 census to be correct for their area.

“Information from census 2000 will be the base for all population estimates in the coming decade, but its importance goes far beyond that. Distribution of federal dollars depends heavily on population counts and estimates. Allocation of local resources relies on census numbers. Advertising placements are decided on population densities. If a county’s population is undercounted in 2000, that county will suffer in many ways for the next ten years,” Watters said.

“The United States has a self-enumeration process. In a real sense, the Census Bureau isn’t counting usówe are counting ourselves. It is everyone’s responsibility to fill out and return his census form. People who don’t do that are not hurting themselves personally, but they hurt their communities with decreased revenues, decreased respect, and decreased representation in political affairs. Everyone counts so we all should answer the census,” Watters said. Census forms will be distributed in late March.

The 10 most populous counties in Alabama are:

1999 Population Estimate

  1. Jefferson 657,422
  2. Mobile 399,652
  3. Madison 280,381
  4. Montgomery 215,813
  5. Tuscaloosa 161,435
  6. Shelby 146,392
  7. Baldwin 135,820
  8. Calhoun 116,541
  9. Morgan 109,665
  10. Etowah 103,472

Each of these counties is part of a metropolitan area. Seven of the 10 are in the northern part of the state. Jefferson County, the most populous, is 60 percent larger than the second most populous, Mobile County.

The counties that have added the most number of people in the last nine years are:

Number Added Since the 1990 Census

  1. Shelby 47,029
  2. Madison 41,469
  3. Baldwin 37,540
  4. Mobile 21,009
  5. Lee 15,018
  6. Elmore 14,278
  7. St. Clair 14,041
  8. Tuscaloosa 10,935
  9. Marshall 9,692
  10. Morgan 9,622

About 11 counties have lost population during the decade of the 90s. Dallas County, at ‚1,460, and Macon County at ‚1,935, have seen the biggest net losses. Macon County estimates show it with 8 percent fewer people in 1999 than it had in 1990.

The University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration, founded in 1919, first began offering graduate education in 1923. Its Center for Business and Economic Research was created in 1930, and since that time has engaged in research programs to promote economic development in the state while continuously expanding and refining its base of socioeconomic information.

Contact

Bill Gerdes, UA Business Writer, 205/348-8318

Source

Annette Watters, 205/348-6191