Most of State’s ‘Micropolitan’ Areas Grow; Relocations Propel Daphne-Fairhope-Foley Area to National Lead, According to UA Center

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – If the Gulf Shores Parkway – Highway 59 for you old-timers – seemed more crowded than normal during the recent spring break, it probably was. And, not just because of spring break traffic.

The U.S. Census has released its list of “micropolitan” areas, and the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley micro area ranked number one in the nation among all micropolitan areas for the number of people gained since 2000. And, of course, the Gulf Shores Parkway goes through the heart of that area.

According to Annette Watters, manager of the State Data Center at The University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research, a micropolitan area is always defined around county boundaries and not the boundaries of the city for which it is named. The micropolitan area is named for its largest population nucleus, but the entire micro area also includes adjacent communities having a high degree of social and economic integration with that core.

The three cities of Daphne, Fairhope and Foley and their neighboring communities in Baldwin County have added 31,350 new residents in the past seven years, bringing the area’s total population to 171,770, and making it the fourth largest micropolitan area in the country. The biggest reason for Daphne-Fairhope-Foley’s growth has been new people moving in from other Alabama counties, from other states, and from other countries, Watters said.

Alabama’s metropolitan areas get a lot of attention, and rightly so. Birmingham ranked as the nation’s 47th largest metro area in 2007, and Huntsville ranked 70th in the nation for gaining people between 2006 and 2007.

But, Watters said, Alabama’s “micropolitan” areas have also showed themselves to be attractive places to live.

“Micropolitan statistical areas may comprise one or more entire counties,” Watters said “For example, Eufaula micro area is Barbour County, Alabama and also Quitman County, Georgia. Alexander City is both Coosa and Tallapoosa counties together.”

At the other end of the state is Albertville, which ranks 72nd nationally for growth between 2000 and 2007. The Albertville micro area is made up of all of Marshall County and now has 87,640 people, according to Watters.

“A little more than half of Albertville’s growth has been because more babies have been born than people have died, but Albertville has also been the recipient of the largest number of international migrants of any of Alabama’s micro areas,” Watters said “Additionally, more than 1,000 people have moved there from other places in the United States.”

Enterprise-Ozark is Alabama’s second largest micro area at 94,940 and is comprised of both Coffee and Dale Counties. “Enterprise-Ozark’s growth has come entirely from the moms and dads in those counties,” Watters said. “There were actually slightly more people who moved away than moved in from 2000 through 2007.”

Two other state micro areas, Cullman and Fort Payne, are also growing, in population and in diversity.

“Most of the people moving to Fort Payne are international,” Watters said, “but the new and the existing young parents there are having children, adding a couple of thousand new little people to the local population. Cullman’s international influx is not quite as big as Fort Payne’s, but still measures in the hundreds.

Most of Cullman’s new residents are Alabamians or people from neighboring states who find Cullman County a pleasant place to live. Parents in Cullman County aren’t keeping the obstetrics department quite as busy as in Fort Payne.”

But other Alabama micro areas have struggled in this decade. Watters said Selma has had the biggest population losses, although Tuskegee, Valley, Eufaula, Alexander City and Scottsboro have lost enough people in the last several years to produce a noticeable impact on local merchants and elected officials. Troy has gained modestly, and Talladega-Sylacauga has remained about stable.

The Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration was established in 1919, and in 1929 it became the 38th school to earn admission into the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business.

The excellence of the UA business school has been acknowledged on a national level. The undergraduate program is ranked 29th among public universities by U.S. News and BusinessWeek, and the Culverhouse School of Accountancy is ranked 15th among public universities by U.S. News. The graduate accounting program is ranked 15th and the undergraduate program 14th by Public Accounting Report. The entrepreneurial program is ranked 18th nationally.