Calera More Than Doubles in Size, According to UA’s State Data Center; Census Bureau Releases New Town Population Numbers

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Move over Rocket City, make room for the Heart of the Heart of Dixie.

According to the State Data Center at The University of Alabama, Calera smoked Huntsville as the state’s fastest growing city, percentage-wise. Calera, known as the Heart of the Heart of Dixie because of its central location in Alabama, has grown 161 percent between 2000 and 2006, from 3,190 to more than 8,330, according to newly released estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Of course, Huntsville held its own, gaining 8,700 new residents, which accounts for a 5.5 percent increase, a sizeable growth rate over a six-year period.

“Calera is the only town in Alabama that more than doubled its population in the decade,” said Annette Jones Watters, manager of the State Data Center.

Watters said the state’s overall increase from 2000 to 2006 has been 3.4 percent. “Many Alabama cities and towns beat that average, and some are, instead, losing population,” Watters said. “The statewide average covers both growing and declining places.”

Most of the fast-growing places are part of a metropolitan statistical area, particularly the Birmingham metro area. Eleven cities in the seven-county Birmingham metro statistical area have gained more than 1,000 people since the year 2000. Some of the fast-growing Birmingham-area cities are in Jefferson County (Hoover, Trussville, Gardendale), but some are in other counties that are part of the Birmingham metro statistical area (Pell City in St. Clair County, Oneonta in Blount County, Alabaster in Shelby County).

Is being part of the Birmingham metro area a magic potion for growth? “Absolutely not,” Watters said. “Some of the cities in our state that have lost the most population in recent years are part of the Birmingham metro statistical area, including the city of Birmingham itself. Bessemer, Fairfield, Hueytown and Homewood have also seen population losses.

“In fact, all metro areas contain incorporated places that are growing and some that are not. But most of the places suffering the heaviest population losses are very small towns of only a few hundred to a few thousand located in the rural parts of the state.”

Still, Watters noted, all is not despair in rural Alabama. “There have been rural population growth success stories. Elberta and Summerdale each grew more than six percent. Elberta grew from 550 to 585 people and Summerdale from 650 to 695. Both are located in Baldwin County, the state’s fastest growing county. In fact, Baldwin County is the site of six of the state’s fastest growing cities, whether you count by number increase or percent increase,” Watters said. Those cities are Orange Beach, Robertsdale, Foley, Fairhope, Gulf Shores and Daphne.

“Every town needs an economy to keep it vibrant,” Watters said. “Some small towns have their own engines, and some help grease the cogs of nearby larger towns. Whatever the situation, population growth isn’t actually the town’s goal. Prosperity is the goal. Population growth is frequently seen as a measure of success, but people who live in cities that are growing or shrinking know that quality of life is the real success story, no matter the size of the town.”

The Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration was established in 1919 and in 1929, 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 38th among public universities by U.S. News 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.

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