Outlying counties drove region’s growth last year, new data reveals

CHARLOTTE — The Charlotte metro area continued to add among the nation’s highest count of new residents last year, but outlying counties — rather than Mecklenburg — were the big drivers of that growth.

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The Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia metropolitan statistical area grew by about 31,381 people between July 1, 2020 and 2021 to reach more than 2.7 million residents, according to the latest round of population estimates released this morning by the U.S. Census Bureau.

That was the ninth-highest numeric increase of U.S. metro areas over the year period. And it just edged out the addition of 28,186 people in the Raleigh-Cary area, which had the 10th-highest increase to result in an estimated population count of about 1.45 million.

In terms of counties, Mecklenburg’s population over the year increased by 0.4% — nearly 4,000 people — to about 1.12 million, the bureau’s estimates show. Mecklenburg has the second-highest total population in the state, trailing Wake County’s 1.15 million residents. Wake added 16,651 residents over the year, more than any other county in the state.

The Charlotte metro area’s population growth was fueled by counties like Lancaster in South Carolina, which hit a milestone by reaching 100,000 residents in 2021.

Read the full story here for a breakdown of population changes in more local counties.

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