Editor's note: Story corrected at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 3, to fix typo in fifth paragraph regarding Troutman's growth percentage.
Iredell County grew by nearly 37,000 people during the first decade of the new millennium and moved into the number 16 slot of North Carolina’s largest counties in terms of population.
Information about the Tar Heel State collected during last year’s decennial census was released Wednesday and showed that Iredell moved up four places in a ranking of the state’s county populations.
According to the census, the county added exactly 36,777 people between April 1, 2000, and that same date last year. That amounted to an increase over the 10 years of 30 percent.
But the bulk of that growth was clearly in the southern part of the county.
Statesville and Troutman combined added 2,003 people to their borders, with Statesville growing from 23,320 in 2000 to 24,532 last year (5.2 percent) and Troutman moving from 1,592 to 2,383 for a growth of just a hair under 50 percent.
Meanwhile, Mooresville grew right past its erstwhile big sister of Statesville.
Race City went from the cozy town of 18,823 in 2000 to a clearly more cosmopolitan population of 32,711 -- a growth of 73.8 percent.
But Iredell’s additional residents alone is a figure greater than the populations of about one-third of North Carolina’s 100 counties and nearly equals that of two of its nine abutting neighbors: Yadkin (38,406) and Alexander (37,198).
While the growth in Iredell during the first decade of the 2000s was impressive, it actually represented -- in terms of percentages -- something of a slight downturn from that of the last decade of the 1900s.
From 1990 to 2000, Iredell grew from 92,931 to 122,660. The 29,729 new county residents was an increase of about 32 percent. So in the last two decades, Iredell has grown by 71.6 percent: a growth average of more than 3.5 percent per year.
Much of that can be attributed to Iredell being part of the greater Charlotte area. The Queen City’s population grew by more than 190,000 people during the last decade. That increase alone is more than the total population of all but six cities and 10 counties in the state.
Mecklenburg grew by 224,174 people, which was good for only the second highest gainer in the state. Wake County added 273,147 as part of a statewide growth during the 2000s of just fewer than 1.5 million people (an 18.5 percent growth).
But while the Raleigh area is certainly one hotspot in the state, it is difficult to match the pull of the North Carolina’s largest city.
Of the five counties that share a border with Mecklenburg, three of them saw population increases of at least 30 percent. Along with Iredell, Cabarrus grew by 35.8 percent and Union County by a staggering 62.8 percent.
The U.S. Census Bureau is releasing states’ population numbers in piecemeal but is scheduled to have all data from last year’s headcount disseminated by April 1.
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