Tennessee Population Growth 2000-2010

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Eastern Division

The Eastern Division grew less rapidly than the Middle Division but also showed widely differing growth among counties. Five east Tennessee counties experienced population growth of more than 15 percent: Blount, Cumberland, Jefferson, Loudon, and Sevier counties. No Eastern Division counties lost population (see table below).

Rapid growth was experienced in Knox County and the suburban counties in the Knoxville MSA. The World's Fair in 1982 bolstered growth in this area, which has also received national attention on lists of the best places to retire. Production and research activities related to the technology corridor as well as the presence of many TVA facilities and the state's largest university provide the Knoxville MSA with the foundation for a strong and stable economy.

The Chattanooga area did not fare as well as the Knoxville area. Unlike Knoxville, where service-related businesses tend to dominate, Chattanooga depends more on industrial-type businesses. Industrial business operation is typically more cyclical in nature than service-oriented enterprises, and this may help explain the more sluggish performance of the economy and the concomitant lack of rapid population buildup in Chattanooga since the 1990s.

Several of the counties in the Eastern Division that experienced slow population growth border Kentucky and stretch along a line from Macon County in middle Tennessee to Hancock County in east Tennessee. Other counties experiencing little or no growth lie deep in Appalachia along the North Carolina border and between the three metropolitan statistical areas located in the Eastern Division of the state. These counties are among the most culturally and economically deprived and most isolated counties in the state, and they have a large percentage of illiterate or poorly educated adults. Census records reveal that 25 percent or more of the population of some of these counties has less than a high school education. Some of the population has a per capita income of less than $25,000, compared to a state average of more than $42,000.

 

 

 

 

Rapid growth was experienced in Knox County and the suburban counties in the Knoxville MSA.
 

 

 

Unlike Knoxville, where service-related businesses tend to dominate, Chattanooga depends more on industrial-type businesses that are typically more cyclical in nature.

Eastern Division Counties: Population Change and Rank, 2000-2010

       Census                        Change
          2000           2010                         2000           2010
County Number Rank Number Rank Number Rank % Rank
Anderson 71,330 15 75,129 17 3,799 30 5.3 57
Bledsoe 12,367 81 12,876 82 509 75 4.1 65
Blount 105,823 11 123,010 10 17,187 11 16.2 15
Bradley 87,965 14 98,963 13 10,998 15 12.5 23
Campbell 39,854 33 40,716 37 862 63 2.2 77
Carter 56,741 21 57,424 23 683 68 1.2 80
Claiborne 29,862 46 32,213 46 2,351 39 7.9 42
Cocke 33,565 42 35,662 42 2,097 43 6.2 52
Cumberland 46,802 29 56,053 25 9,251 20 19.8 12
Grainger 20,659 61 22,657 60 1,998 45 9.7 33
Green 62,909 18 68,831 19 5,922 25 9.4 34
Hamblen 58,128 20 62,544 21 4,416 28 7.6 45
Hamilton 307,896 4 336,463 4 28,567 8 9.3 35
Hancock 6,786 92 6,819 92 33 86 0.5 83
Hawkins 53,563 23 56,833 24 3,270 33 6.1 53
Jefferson 44,294 30 51,407 29 7,113 22 16.1 16
Johnson 17,499 70 18,244 71 745 66 4.3 63
Knox 382,032 3 432,226 3 50,194 4 13.1 22
Loudon 39,085 35 48,556 32 9,471 19 24.2 7
McMinn 49,015 26 52,266 28 3,251 34 6.6 50
Marion 27,776 52 28,237 52 461 76 1.7 79
Meigs 11,086 85 11,753 85 667 69 6.0 55
Monroe 38,961 36 44,519 34 5,558 26 14.3 21
Morgan 19,757 65 21,987 64 2,230 42 11.3 26
Polk 16,050 75 16,825 75 775 65 4.8 60
Rhea 28,400 50 31,809 47 3,409 32 12.0 24
Roane 51,910 24 54,181 26 2,271 40 4.4 62
Scott 21,127 60 22,228 62 1,101 59 5.2 58
Sevier 71,170 16 89,889 15 18,719 10 26.3 6
Sullivan 153,048 6 156,823 9 3,775 31 2.5 76
Unicoi 17,667 69 18,313 70 646 71 3.7 68
Union 17,808 67 19,109 66 1,301 56 7.3 47
Washington 107,198 10 122,979 11 15,781 12 14.7 19
                 
Total 2,108, 133   2,327,544   219,411   10.0  
Tennessee 5,689,283   6,346,105          

Reference

Population estimates in this report are taken from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Local Population Estimates, Current Population Reports, June 3, 2011.

* H. Ronald Moser is a professor in the Labry School of Business Administration and Technology at Cumberland University in Lebanon, TN, and a retired MTSU professor (Management and Marketing). Horace E. Johns is a professor of business law at MTSU.

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