ASHEVILLE — Western North Carolina’s largest city grew faster than the state average, according to 2010 U.S. Census data released today.
Asheville’s population increased 21 percent in the last 10 years to 83,393 people, while Buncombe County increased 15.5 percent to 238,318 people.
North Carolina grew 18 percent to 9.5 million people.
Military communities grew slower by half than the rest of the state because of the largest wartime deployment since Vietnam.
Soldiers on the battlefield are part of the state’s total population, which increased 18.4 % to 9.5 million the past 10 years, but they were not including in county-by-county counts.
That means officials in counties such as Cumberland, home to Ft. Bragg, and Wayne, with Pope Air Force Base, will have to deal with a larger-than-expected population at war’s end.
“We want to try to improve the process so that we count deployed persons and we count them to the right area,” said Bob Coats, of the state’s Census coordinator.
Charlotte continued its reign as the state’s largest city with a 35.2 % gain to 731,424 people. Raleigh and the Research Triangle Park continued growth with a 46.3 % increase to 403,892 people.
The growth, Coats said, is part of a trend in the USA of people leaving the Northeast for better climates and jobs in the South.
Union County, near Charlotte, was the fastest growing at 62 % with 201,292 people. Camden County, near the Virginia line, was among the fastest at 45 % with 9,980 people.
Coats said spillover from Charlotte, in the case of Union County, and Newport News and Norfolk, Va., in the case of Camden, are behind the increases as people look for lower priced land in exchange for a longer commute.
Minority groups continued an uptick in the Tar Heel state with Hispanics leading the way at 111 % or 800,120 people. The group is 8.4 % of the population.
The state’s black population increased 17.9 % to 2 million. Its American Indian population increased 22 % to 122,000 and its Asian population grew 83 % to 200,000.
2:50 PM, Mar. 2, 2011
Written by
Jon Ostendorff
