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The city of Charlotte was the nation's 23rd fastest-growing city for the year ending in July 2008, and is now the county's 18th-largest city, according to Census estimates released Wednesday.
For bragging rights, Charlotte has passed Memphis, Tenn., in population. The Queen City has 687,456 people – up from 570,091 at the start of the decade.
The estimates don't cover fall 2008, when the recession deepened and hit Charlotte in full force. It's possible that next year's growth numbers will be smaller. Mecklenburg County's unemployment rate is now 11 percent, a few points higher than Wake County's rate of 8.6 percent.
“The story will likely change over the next year,” said Mark Vitner, an economist at Wachovia, now part of Wells Fargo. “Since these numbers came out, the economy has weakened considerably.”
Vitner said he expects Charlotte to still grow in the next year, though at a smaller pace. It's possible, he said, that the city may lose some newcomers to outlying areas, as people pinch pennies and look for cheaper housing.
“I suspect we'll find more people looking for affordable places to live,” he said. “It's typically more expensive to live in a city than in an unincorporated area.”
Charlotte's growth has been fueled by the city's strong economy for much of the decade, with areas near the central city being redeveloped with new housing. The city's growth is also helped by N.C.'s liberal annexation laws. In many cases, Charlotte has grown by annexing outlying communities to capture their tax base.
If Charlotte continues to grow as the city has this decade, it may pass the population in cities such as Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis and Jacksonville in the next 10 years.
Cary was the nation's third-fastest-growing city in the past year, at 6.9 percent. Raleigh was eighth (3.8 percent) and Durham was 16th (3 percent).
New Orleans was the nation's fastest-growing city, at 8.2 percent. It now has 311,830 people, up from 210,768 in 2006 following Hurricane Katrina. The pre-storm population of the city was 484,674.
These Census estimates are only for individual cities, and not metro areas. The six-county Charlotte metro area has a population of 1.7 million.
