By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
APRIL 6, 2018 | The big keep getting bigger.
That’s what the new Census Estimates of population growth tell us. Big old Fulton County has beaten Gwinnett County in the actual number of new residents from one year to another for the second straight year.
Fulton gained 17,175 new residents in 2017, a growth rate of 1.7 percent, whereas Gwinnett gained 13,159 people, or a 1.5 percent growth rate. In 2017, the Census showed Fulton gained 15,407 residents, to Gwinnett’s 14,964. Two years ago, when the 2016 gains in population were reported, Gwinnett County led in growth, 17,665 to 14,103 for Fulton County.
These two counties led all of Georgia in actual growth for the last several years. While some people have predicted that Gwinnett would some day pass Fulton County in population, Fulton‘s new surge in growth raises some questions about that. The growth in both North Fulton and South Fulton has done well lately.
Remember, too, that Fulton County, as President Trump would say, is HUUUGE, really Huge in land area in Metro Atlanta. It now consists of the original Fulton County, plus it consists of two more bankrupt counties having been added to its territory back during the Depression. That was Milton County to the north, and Campbell County to the south. Fulton now totals 534 square miles, whereas Gwinnett has less space, a total of 437 square miles.
With Fulton’s growth continuing strong, about the only way Gwinnett will pass Fulton might be that if the Milton, and even Campbell, county areas would become separate counties again. There’s talk of that, but it could not happen without legislative action.
Note the tables showing the growth in the last year. All the big action in actual population growth is in the Atlanta Metro area, except for Columbia County down near Augusta.
North Georgia even comes out well when you consider the counties with the highest percent growth rate. Lumpkin County leads this list, growing 4.3 percent in the last year. It’s followed by Jackson County, growing at 3.9 percent. You might call this spill-over from Gwinnett, as you might also include Forsyth County in this spill-over, since Forsyth was ranked third at 3.6 percent. Barrow’s growth might also be considered spill-over from Gwinnett, at 2.6 percent.
But even tiny Union County grew by 3.5 percent, up to 23,459 residents.
The only two counties with high percent growth not in North Georgia are Bryan County (Pembroke), overflowing from Savannah, and Columbia County, which is part of the metro Augusta area. These two counties grew at a respective rate of 3.4 percent and 2.8 percent.
Gwinnett first got its reputation as a fast-growth county in the late 1970s, when its 1970 population was 72,349, and when its big growth ranked it first in the nation in percent growth in counties of under 100,000 population. We learned of this when we got a call from my friend, the publisher of the Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Sun, Mike Pate, who first off said to me, “Congratulations!”
“For what?” I asked.
“Gwinnett County is Number One in percent of population growth in the nation,” he had just learned.
“How do you know?”
“We in Horry County are Number Two.”
That’s how the ballyhoo of Gwinnett being Number One began, and has continued for many years.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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