Raleigh among fastest-growing cities in NC
U.S. census data released Tuesday shows Raleigh is the fastest-growing of the five most populous cities in North Carolina, with a 46.3 percent population growth since 2000.
Posted — UpdatedMuch of North Carolina’s growth came in areas around Charlotte, Raleigh and Wilmington.
Huntersville, a suburb of Charlotte, posted a population growth of 87.4 percent. Fayetteville’s population boomed 65.7 percent.
Charlotte is still the largest city in the state with a population of 731,424 – a 35.2 percent growth rate from 10 years ago.
At the bottom of the ranking, Rocky Mount grew the least, at a rate of 2.8 percent with a growth of 1,584 people.
Only a handful of counties lost residents, mostly rural ones in the northeastern part of the state.
Numbers also show the Latino population doubling from less than 400,000 to more than 800,000. The number of white residents grew 13 percent while the black population grew 18 percent.
The state's overall population jumped more than 18 percent from 2000 to 2010 and now totals more than 9.5 million.
“(An) 18.5 percent growth cannot be overstated,” political analyst John Davis said Wednesday. “I mean, that's just phenomenal. We are No. 5 in the nation as far as the states with the most newcomers. We're now the tenth largest state in the nation, so it's having a dramatic impact on who we are and certainly will impact how we vote.”
Reps. David Price, a Democrat, and Sue Myrick, a Republican, now sit in districts that are well above the average population. Democratic Rep. G.K. Butterfield, meanwhile, now represents a district with almost 100,000 fewer people than the state average.
“With the release of detailed 2010 Census data today, the redistricting process has officially begun,” state Senate Democratic leader Martin Nesbitt, D-Buncombe, said.
“North Carolinians expect to see a fair and open redistricting process, and Democrats will accept nothing less than legislative and congressional districts that are fair, legal, and representative of all of North Carolina’s people,” he added.
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