Numbers released today by the Tennessee State Data Center, housed at the Center for Business and Economic Research within UT’s Haslam College of Business, show that nearly two-thirds of the counties in Tennessee experienced population growth in 2014.
Twenty of the 60 counties—Bedford, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Cumberland, Davidson, Knox, Macon, Maury, Montgomery, Pickett, Putnam, Robertson, Rutherford, Sevier, Sumner, Trousdale, Van Buren, Williamson, and Wilson—saw rates higher than state and national averages. Tennessee grew at a rate of 0.8 percent in 2014, slightly higher than the 0.75 percent US rate.
These numbers are part of the 2014 population estimates from the US Census Bureau, with annual growth rates calculated by comparing them to the 2013 numbers.
Williamson County had the fastest-growing population in Tennessee with a growth rate of 3.14 percent, followed by Montgomery County at 2.83 percent and Wilson County at 2.75 percent. The top three counties were all in Middle Tennessee, with both Williamson and Wilson in the Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Most other counties within that MSA saw higher growth rates than the rest of the state, and all counties growing faster than the state average were in either Middle or East Tennessee.
From 2010 to 2014, Tennessee’s compound annual growth of 0.75 percent is very close to the national rate of 0.76. Fifty counties experienced population growth over the four-year span, with Bedford, Bledsoe, Bradley, Cumberland, Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, Loudon, Macon, Maury, Montgomery, Rutherford, Sequatchie, Sevier, Sumner, Williamson, and Wilson Counties all growing faster than both the state and US rates.
The top three counties in four-year growth were Williamson County with 2.76 percent, Montgomery County with 2.33 percent, and Rutherford County with 2.30 percent. As with the one-year rates, all three top counties are in Middle Tennessee; Williamson and Rutherford are both in the Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin MSA.
The counties growing faster than the state and national rate show the greatest increases in the 25-to-29 and 65-to-79 age groups.
The Tennessee State Data Center is the local partner to the US Census Bureau. Its mission is to provide efficient access to US census data; products, training and technical assistance to data users; and feedback to the Census Bureau on data usability as well as state and local government data needs and operational issues.
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CONTACT:
Melissa Stefanini (865-974-6070, tnsdc@utk.edu)