Clarksville TN's growth puts it in the Top 10 NATIONWIDE

City's growth puts it in Top 10

By JIMMY SETTLE
The Leaf-Chronicle

Among U.S. cities with populations of 100,000 people or more, few today are growing faster than Clarksville.

That's not just widely held perception. It's fact, and there are now new statistics to back it up.

The U.S. Census Bureau says Tennessee's fifth-largest city is now the nation's ninth-fastest-growing large city.

Clarksville experienced 4.8 percent annual growth between July 2006 to July 2007, checking in with a total population of 119,284 one year ago.

With that rate of growth and ninth-place ranking, Clarksville easily outpaced its major urban competition in Tennessee.

The next-fastest-growing large city in Tennessee through that period was Chattanooga - in 110th place with just less than 1 percent annual growth.

Local business recruiters, including James Chavez, president of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Economic Development Council, hardly seem surprised by the news.

"We know that Clarksville is experiencing rapid population growth, as well as growth in our per capita personal income, which outpaced Hamilton County (Chattanooga) and Knox County (Knoxville) in the most recent data release," Chavez said.

He said some factors fueling population growth include the large number of retirees settling in the Middle Tennessee region.

In many cases, Nashville workers are choosing to reside in Clarksville and commute.

And, as always, there is the Fort Campbell factor at play.

"We are also seeing relocations due to industry expansions, our housing appreciation market, and an excellent public school system," Chavez said.

Clarksville also fares well among large Tennessee cities in comparative growth rates for the period between 2000 to 2007.

The total population here through the seven-year period grew from 103,535 to 119,284, a growth of 15.2 percent.

The nearest major urban competitor in the state through that period, again, was Chattanooga, which posted 8.7 percent growth. Nashville grew by 8.3 percent in seven years, followed by Knoxville, at 4.7 percent.

Memphis posted a seven-year population decline of 2.4 percent.

The Census Bureau's annual population growth comparison showed that post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans was the nation's fastest-growing large city between July 2006 and July 2007. However, this follows the Big Easy having the largest rate of population loss since 2000.

Houston, another city near the Gulf Coast, led the nation's cities in numerical increase between July 2006 and July 2007. Houston added 38,932 residents to lead the nation in numerical population increase.

New Orleans had the fifth-largest numerical growth.

New Orleans' population rose by 13.8 percent to 239,124 during the one-year period, to lead all cities with populations of 100,000 or more.

Second was Victorville, Calif., whose population climbed 9.5 percent to 107,221. Victorville, in Southern California's San Bernardino County, saw its population pass the 100,000 mark for the first time in 2007.

Three Texas cities made the fastest-growing top 10: McKinney and Denton (near Dallas, ranking third and 10th, respectively) and Killeen (near Austin, ranking sixth).

Rounding out the top 10 were North Las Vegas, Nev. (fourth); Cary, N.C. (near Raleigh, ranking fifth); Port St. Lucie, Fla. (on the Atlantic coast, seventh); Gilbert, Ariz. (near Phoenix, eighth); and Clarksville, ninth.

New York continued to be the nation's most populous city, with 8.3 million residents.

This was more than twice the population of Los Angeles, which ranked second at 3.8 million. Chicago, with 2.8 million, was third, followed by Houston and Phoenix (1.6 million).

New to the listing of the 25 most populous cities in 2007 is nearby Nashville, now 25th largest with a total population of 590,807.

Nashville displaced Washington, D.C., at the No. 25 spot.

The city added 5,212 residents over the previous 12 months, according to 2007 population estimates.

Columbus, Ga., had the largest percentage decrease from 2006 to 2007. The Census report said its population decline is attributable to a decline in the population living in military barracks.