TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Back in 2000, Shelby County had a population density of about 180 people per square mile. The U.S. Census estimates Shelby has grown by 34,889 people, packing about 220 people into each of its 810 square miles, a jump of 24 percent, and raising the county’s total population to an estimated 178,182.
“Shelby, Baldwin and Madison counties continue to be the Alabama counties adding the most people,” said Annette Jones Watters, manager of the Alabama State Data Center at The University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research. The numbers are part of a U.S. Census report released today.
“Whether you look at growth over time since the 2000 census or whether you look at growth in only one year, these three counties, in that order, top Alabama’s growth list,” Watters said. Since the 2000 census, Baldwin County has added 28,747, and Madison County 27,607.
Two other counties, Lee, in Southeast Alabama, and St. Clair, east of Birmingham, have added more than 10,000 people each thus far in this decade. Near Montgomery, Elmore County’s growth, at 9,814, is almost as robust, Watters said. Thirteen other counties have each added more than 1,000 residents.
A few other counties have seen modest population growth, but more than half of Alabama’s counties now have fewer people than they did in the year 2000.
“The counties with reduced populations tend to be rural counties, but some of Alabama’s metropolitan areas have lost population over this decade,” Watters said. Etowah County, home of Gadsden, and Lauderdale County, home of Florence, have had both gains and losses over recent years, with population losses just slightly more than the gains. Jefferson County, home of Birmingham, is the county with the largest population loss.
Despite its years of declining population, Jefferson County remains Alabama’s largest county. The most recent estimates show that Jefferson County is now beginning to see some growth, attributable to more births than deaths in the county. Jefferson County continues to have more people moving out than people moving in, Watters said.
Most of the growing counties are part of a metropolitan statistical area.
“Three nonmetro counties with strong growth over the decade, all in north Alabama, are each the home of a nice-sized small town that anchors the county’s economy,” Watters said. “DeKalb County contains Ft. Payne; Cullman County contains Cullman; and Marshall County contains Albertville.
“Jackson County contains Scottsboro, which has seen growth in the last year or so, even though it did not see growth earlier in the decade. These counties all border metropolitan areas without technically being part of a metro area,” Watters said.
Local amenities help attract new residents. For example, proximity to some of Alabama’s more popular lakes – Smith Lake, Lake Guntersville and Weiss Lake–attracts retirees.
Watters said most of Alabama’s rural counties are struggling very hard with persistent population decline.
“A county with a small population does not have to lose as many people as a larger county for the effect to be felt,” Watters said.
Eight rural counties (Perry, Greene, Macon, Bullock, Choctaw, Sumter, Lamar, and Coosa) lost between 6 and 9 percent of their total population since Census 2000. Several of these counties were hit hard by Hurricane Katrina, and the population declines might be temporary results of a series of natural disasters in the first part of this decade, Watters said.
“Hard work and rebuilding might reverse some of the population losses seen recently.”
Contact
Bill Gerdes, UA Public Relations, 205/348-8318, bgerdes@cba.ua.edu