Home to more than 2.2 million people in 2005, the Charlotte region consists of 14 counties in North and South Carolina. The counties are Anson, Cabarrus, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Stanly and Union in North Carolina, and Chester, Lancaster and York in South Carolina. Of those 2.2 million people, nearly 800,000 live in the core urban county of Mecklenburg and the highest growth counties are suburban ring counties. The region is characterized by population growth that has continued since 1960. The population has risen by nearly 200,000 people every decade since the 1960s, with the figure increasing to 400,000 in the 1990s. This trend has continued into the current decade, with the region adding approximately 200,000 people from 2000 to 2005. It’s also important to examine this population growth in terms of percent change over time. The region’s number of residents grew by 15 percent or more in each decade from the 1960s to 1990 and nearly 26 percent during the 1990s. The number has grown by 11.5 percent from in the first half of the current decade (from 2000 through 2005). Except for the 1970s, the region has increased in population at a faster rate than North and South Carolina, as well as the United States. |