Wake to add 1 millionth resident this week

Wake County has long been one of the fastest-growing counties nationwide. In the last census, in 2010, the population was estimated at about 901,000. Now the county is poised to add another digit. 

Commissioners estimated that Wake gets 25,000 new residents every year or 62 per day.

Of those:

"Our hospitals report that births equal about one kindergarten class per day in Wake County, so that kind of growth is really phenomenal," Wake County Superintendent of Schools Jim Merrill said.

An estimated 156,000 students – on year-round and traditional calendars – attend public school in Wake County, Merrill said.

After they graduate, about 30 percent of Wake County high school graduates go on to Wake Tech, administrators there said Monday.

Wake Tech's fall semester began Monday with record enrollment of 22,000 students.

About half of Wake County's population lives in either Raleigh or Cary. 

As those communities become more crowded, Apex, Holly Springs and Wake Forest are growing in popularity and population as well.

And there is no expectation that the growth will slow. County commissioners expect the population to double again – to two million – in just another 40 years.