Upstate Municipal Pop Estimates for 2008

[distortedlogic]

I could not locate last year's thread to add on to, so here it goes. The census bureau released estimates for us cities for July, 1 of 2008 (already a year old).

No huge changes from last year. Here are the numbers for the upstate form 2008, 2007, and 2000:

Greenville: 59,988 58,915 56,002

Spartanburg: 39,584 38,820 39,673

Anderson: 27,027 26,725 25,514

Greenwood: 22,533 22,446 22,071

Greer: 24,557 23,352 16,843

Mauldin: 21,784 20,228 15,224

Simpsonville: 17,144 16,740 14,352

Easley: 20,325 20,018 17,754

Other Notables from the state:

Cola: 127,029 125,213 116,278

Charleston: 111,978 110,538 96,650

Rock Hill: 67,339 64,842 49,765

In addition, N Chas is up to 94,407; Goose Creek is up to 37,900; Hilton Head is at 33,913, Myrtle Beach is up to 30, 596, Mt Pleasant is at 65,472; Summerville is at 45,193; and Aiken is up to 29,434.

No real shockers here. Greer is leaving Greenwood comfortably behind and catching Anderson fast, while Mauldin is not far beind. And I am still surprised that Greenville, Spartanburg, and Anderson all remain under their 1960 populations. Again, another reason why our annexation laws need to be revised. Greenville continues to lose ground to others in the state though, and, while still in 6th place, places like Summerville, Goose Creek, and even MYB are making big gains on us. Summerville may pass us by the 2020 census.

[Greenville]

I could not locate last year's thread to add on to, so here it goes. The census bureau released estimates for us cities for July, 1 of 2008 (already a year old).

No huge changes from last year. Here are the numbers for the upstate form 2008, 2007, and 2000:

Greenville: 59,988 58,915 56,002

Spartanburg: 39,584 38,820 39,673

Anderson: 27,027 26,725 25,514

Greenwood: 22,533 22,446 22,071

Greer: 24,557 23,352 16,843

Mauldin: 21,784 20,228 15,224

Simpsonville: 17,144 16,740 14,352

Easley: 20,325 20,018 17,754

Other Notables from the state:

Cola: 127,029 125,213 116,278

Charleston: 111,978 110,538 96,650

Rock Hill: 67,339 64,842 49,765

In addition, N Chas is up to 94,407; Goose Creek is up to 37,900; Hilton Head is at 33,913, Myrtle Beach is up to 30, 596, Mt Pleasant is at 65,472; Summerville is at 45,193; and Aiken is up to 29,434.

No real shockers here. Greer is leaving Greenwood comfortably behind and catching Anderson fast, while Mauldin is not far beind. And I am still surprised that Greenville, Spartanburg, and Anderson all remain under their 1960 populations. Again, another reason why our annexation laws need to be revised. Greenville continues to lose ground to others in the state though, and, while still in 6th place, places like Summerville, Goose Creek, and even MYB are making big gains on us. Summerville may pass us by the 2020 census.

[distortedlogic]

Absolutely. Yet, as pointed out before, most people still want to know what a cities pop is, as a way of camparing it to other cities (fair or unfair). So when Gville shows up at under 60K, it is "dwarfed" by cities like Hunstville at 175k, Montgomery at 200k, Cola at 127k, and Greensboro at 250k, even though us urban geeks know those numbers do not tell the real story. I do not personally care much about city pop size, though I would at least like to see Gville get over the 100k mark as that designation leads to a little more press and attention on a few fronts. The annexaton issue has been beat to death here so I will not go there, but the the numbers are all worth looking at to see general trends and just for good discussion.

[GvilleSC]

Honestly, I think it's huge that Greenville City has gained 4,000 people in the past 8 years. It's not huge, but we also all know that the City has added very small amounts of residential land.

One notable development that is not included most likely is fairly sizable Millennium Apartments. For what it's worth, that's probably another 300-400 people.

[Greenville]

Honestly, I think it's huge that Greenville City has gained 4,000 people in the past 8 years. It's not huge, but we also all know that the City has added very small amounts of residential land.

One notable development that is not included most likely is fairly sizable Millennium Apartments. For what it's worth, that's probably another 300-400 people.

[distortedlogic]

Yes. I think Verdae is supposed to add between 6 and 10k. Also, don't forget about the new Mill (Woodside?) makeover in West Greenville that is being annexed and will likey add a few hundred as well. We could conceivably be closing in on 70k by 2020, which would be a pretty good gain percentage wise; that is assuming there are no major annexations between now and then.

[GvilleSC]

Yes. I think Verdae is supposed to add between 6 and 10k. Also, don't forget about the new Mill (Woodside?) makeover in West Greenville that is being annexed and will likey add a few hundred as well. We could conceivably be closing in on 70k by 2020, which would be a pretty good gain percentage wise; that is assuming there are no major annexations between now and then.

[gman430]

Yea, we might see several thousand of those people by 2020 depending on the rate of construction.

Talking about Verdae, I also forgot another sizable development that is probably not included in the count: The Cascades at Verdae. The Cascades will add 450 people when it's at capacity. So, right there, we can inch Greenville's total up another 600-1000 people (with the 36 apartment buildings at Millennium Apts). I know this may look desperate, but I think it puts things in perspective and helps show the importance of that 4,000 person gain we've seen, mostly through infill!

[GvilleSC]

Don't forget about the new large apartment complex under construction currently at the Point either. That's going to have 696 units in all when complete. Several other apartment complexes are in the works that will be in the city limits too including across Westfield Street from the Kroc Center and in Verdae near Bilo.

[beyonce245]

Just because more housing/apartment units are being built doesn't necessarily mean you can gauge future population numbers based on that, IMO.

[GvilleSC]

Just because more housing/apartment units are being built doesn't necessarily mean you can gauge future population numbers based on that, IMO.

[Spartan]

Spartanburg has added population for 3 years in a row now. It will most likely be back above 40,000 by 2010 if the trend continues. It's not due to annexation either. I hope that Anderson is in the same boat in that its growth is not just tied new annexations.

One thing that we have to acknowledge is that for most people, city population and metro population are used to judge size. I routinely have a conversation with people explaining that annexation laws vary from state to state and that its not an accurate measure to use city population. You all know the drill. But people still use city size.

Just because more housing/apartment units are being built doesn't necessarily mean you can gauge future population numbers based on that, IMO.

[vicupstate]

It is Noteable that if these figures hold, Rock Hill (and Mt. Pleasant?) will leap over Greenville in the next census.

The TBA column of the Journal noted that there is some renewed interest in annexing Lake Forest again. That is a 400 home potential. It may never happen though.

[Spartan]

Suburbs should never be allowed to be so large. It's really shameful that our state allows this to happen.

[distortedlogic]

A random interesting stat: per the US Census website, Gville county is estimated to have over 438k residents. But 313,222 of them live in unincorporated areas! This means only a little more than 25% of Greenville county residents live "in a city!" Simply amazing.

[GvilleSC]

A random interesting stat: per the US Census website, Gville county is estimated to have over 438k residents. But 313,222 of them live in unincorporated areas! This means only a little more than 25% of Greenville county residents live "in a city!" Simply amazing.

[distortedlogic]

That really is rather interesting! Is the 438k number from 2008?