Metro area adds nearly 64,000 people in last decade, tops 400,000 for first time
By Lee Roop, The Huntsville Times
April 04, 2010, 7:00AM
You're right; it is more crowded on Memorial Parkway. New government estimates show Huntsville's metropolitan area grew by nearly 64,000 people in the past 10 years to top 400,000 for the first time.
State experts call that "eye-popping" growth in the two-county metro area of Madison and Limestone counties. If the trend continues, it means passing Mobile this decade to become the state's second-largest metropolitan area, trailing only Birmingham.
And the growth is expected to continue - or even accelerate - as BRAC transfers continue to arrive by the hundreds with their families.
The numbers released by the U.S. Census Bureau last week are the last official estimates of changes to the U.S. population during years between 2000 and 2009. They do not reflect the 2010 national census now under way, but sociologist and demographer Dr. Don Bogie of Montgomery said Thursday "they are usually pretty close."
Now available at the official census Web site,
www.census.gov, the estimates show the two-county metropolitan area's estimated 2009 population at 406,316, up from 342,376 in 2000. That's an increase of nearly 19 percent.
By comparison, the state's other major metro areas had estimated 2009 populations as follows (2000 populations in parentheses for comparison): Birmingham-Hoover 1,131,070 (1,051,300), Mobile 411,721 (399,843) and Montgomery 366,401 (346,522). Chattanooga's metro area posted a population of 524,303 (476,502).
Most of the increase came in Madison County itself, where the population is now estimated at 327,744, up 18 percent from 276,952 in 2000, according to a companion set of county figures also released last week. "Metropolitan statistical areas," or MSAs, are closely related population groups the government uses to guide decisions such as highway funding.
Huntsville's MSA includes both Limestone and Madison counties. Retailers also use population numbers to make decisions on locating new stores and franchises.
"That's huge," said Annette Watters, manager of the Alabama State Data Center at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
"Eye-popping," agreed retired university sociology professor and demographer Bogie of Montgomery. The cause is "a really hefty net migration into the area," Bogie said, and that's significant, too.
The numbers show about 36,000 of Madison County's 50,792 increase from came from immigration, Bogie said. About 14,000 came from births over deaths in the existing population, a number that is also significant. It shows a population with a good number of young, growing families and households.
Approximately 5,400 of the immigrants to Madison County and 7,000 to the MSA as a whole came from a different county, the Census Bureau estimates. Bogie said many of the immigrants are likely Hispanic and mostly from Mexico, which the Census Bureau identifies as the country of origin of the overwhelming percentage of immigrants to the U.S.
But given Huntsville's international economy, Watters said immigration could be from around the world and at both ends of the economic spectrum. "Doctors and engineers, roofers and brick masons," Watters said.
Growth like this first strains infrastructure, Watters said. That means crowded roads and schools and shortages of affordable housing. More cars on the road means a harder time meeting tightening federal clean air standards, noted Alabama A&M University professor Dr. Jacob Oluwoye, who does research in A&M's Department of Community Planning and Urban Studies.
Soon after infrastructure issues, people notice a need for more goods and services. That means more stores and groceries, more doctors and dentists, more plumbers and roofers, Watters said.
The needs create "challenges and opportunities," Watters said. New niches open that can be exploited by nimble entrepreneurs, but existing businesses can find themselves bypassed if, for example, traffic patterns change. Growth at this rate strains public services, Watters noted.
Cities and counties need more schools, more teachers, more police, and more firefighters, among other things, and those public servants increasingly need to know at least some Spanish.
If the official census bears out the numbers, changes will be come on the political map, too. Watters said the 5th Congressional District will be redrawn, and the population increase should mean more representation in Montgomery, as well.
It sounds like one tough challenge after another, but the demographers point out that, in Bogie's words, "it's better than the other problem, which is out-migration." Several Alabama counties recorded population decreases, particularly in the Black Belt south of Tuscaloosa where the economy is still struggling. That means fewer people to pay for needed and existing services.
In growing counties, Bogie said the question is "to what extent those coming in pay for these things." Madison County's history suggests its new arrivals do pay their share, both experts agree. The history also suggests local leaders know how to deal with growth like this.
"These are the kind of problems Huntsville is accustomed to," Watters said. "I am confident Huntsville is going to handle this well."
Overall, Alabama's population increased 5.9 percent to nearly 4.7 million in the same period. The population shrank in 34 of 67 counties.
Story tags: census awareness | economy | Huntsville
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