Carolinas metros remain hot as national population growth cools, census shows
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Four Carolina metros are among the nation's fastest-growing as U.S. growth cools.
- Wake and Mecklenburg each added more than 26,000 residents.
- Suburban and coastal counties lead growth; 18 mostly rural counties lost residents.
In a country where population growth has slowed, four of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas are in the Carolinas, according to the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Raleigh-Cary and Wilmington metro areas in North Carolina and the Myrtle Beach and Spartanburg areas in South Carolina were all in the top 10 for rate of population growth for the year ending last June 30, according to estimates released Thursday.
A drop in new arrivals from outside the country since the election of President Donald Trump has dampened population growth nationwide, according to the Census Bureau. Nine out of 10 counties saw fewer international migrants in the year ending June 30 than the year before, and nearly 80% had either slower population growth or a decline.
All but three of North Carolina’s 15 metro areas — Fayetteville, Hickory/Lenoir/Morganton and Southern Pines/Pinehurst — grew more slowly than the year before. Asheville was the only metro area in the state to lose population.
Suburban and coastal counties remain the fastest-growing in North Carolina. Eighteen of the state’s 100 counties lost population in the year ending June 30, all but one of them in rural areas.
Here’s what else the numbers show:
- Wake and Mecklenburg counties made the top 10 for numeric population growth nationwide, each adding more than 26,000 residents. Wake remains the state’s largest county, with an estimated 1,257,235 residents last summer.
- Brunswick County, south of Wilmington, was the sixth fastest-growing county in the country, at 4.7%. Brunswick and Pender grew faster than any other counties in the state, driving growth in the Wilmington metro area.
- Since 2000, Wake, Johnston and Franklin counties, which make up the Raleigh-Cary metro area, have been among the fastest growing in the state. Raleigh-Cary is now the 40th largest metro area in the country, moving ahead of Milwaukee.
- The 11-county Charlotte metro area, which includes three counties in South Carolina, added more than 54,000 residents in the year ending June 30, the fifth-highest number among metro areas nationwide. More than 2.9 million people live in the Charlotte metro area, making it the 21st largest in the country.
- Durham and Chapel Hill are part of their own metro area. It had an estimated 625,485 residents last summer.
- The population of Tyrrell County in eastern North Carolina has grown more than 9% since 2000, but it remains the state’s smallest, with just 3,537 residents.
