Recession blamed for stagnant growth in numbers throughout Atlanta metro area

Hampered by strong recessionary forces, Fayette County had only a growth of 700 new residents from 2008 to this year, according to estimates from the Atlanta Regional Commission released Aug. 17.

Fayette now has 106,700 people, ARC says. The entire Atlanta region grew by only 77,213 people to a new total of 4,124,300, ARC says. It’s the slowest growth rate ever recorded for the 10-county region covered by ARC. The agency has been keeping yearly growth records since 1990.

With population growth slowing in every one of the 10 counties in the region, growth in outer, suburban counties has been particularly affected, ARC says.

“Housing values were one of the primary drivers of suburban growth earlier this decade,” the ARC news release says. “Thus when the housing market faltered and few could sell their current house, growth rates in the suburban counties dropped significantly. While the annual growth rate in the five suburban counties was almost triple that of the urban counties earlier this decade, as of 2009, the gap between the two has narrowed significantly.”

On the other hand, the city of Atlanta accounted for 14 percent of the entire region’s growth, adding 3,400 new residents in the past year. Atlanta’s population of 480,700 is now as high as it has been since the mid-1970s, ARC says.

“Due in part to the growth in the city of Atlanta, Fulton County again led the region in population added last year, adding 6,400 new residents. This annual gain is well off the pace Fulton set between 2000 and 2008, when it added almost 17,000 new residents each year. Fulton remains the region’s largest county with an estimated population of 957,900,” according to the ARC.

Neighboring Clayton County registered only 500 new residents during the past year, bringing its total estimated population to 281,900, the ARC says.

Coweta County to the west and Spalding County to the south are not included in the 10-county population estimates by ARC.

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