Forsyth The Fastest Growing County In Georgia

The fastest-growing county in the state appears to be Forsyth County, a distinction once held by Gwinnett County, in 2010 figures released Thursday (March 17) afternoon by the U.S. Census Bureau. Forsyth's population grew to 175,511 in 2010, an increase of 78.4 percent from its 2000 population of 98,407, according to the Census Bureau. That’s 77,104 folks who have moved into Forsyth County over the past 10 years.

Right behind Forsyth is Paulding County (74.3 percent increase), Henry County (70.9 percent increase), nearby Cherokee County from 141,903 in 2000 to 214,346 in 2010 (51.1 percent), and Douglas County (43.6 percent).

Fulton, the most heavily populated county in Georgia, increased by 12.8 percent from 816,006 in 2000 to 920,581 in 2010. Gwinnett rose from fourth most populated county in Georgia in 2000 census to second largest based on 2010 census (36.9 percent). DeKalb County was next with an increase of 3.9 percent to 691,893, Cobb County with an increase of 13.2 percent to 688,078, and Chatham County with an increase of 14.3 percent to 265,128.

Georgia’s population went up from 8,186,453 in 2000 to 9,687,653 in 2010, an increase of about 1,501,200 residents or 18.3 percent. Atlanta’s 2000 population was recorded at 420,003 in 2010 compared to 416,474 in 2000, an increase of only 0.8 percent.           

Georgia gains a Congressional seat as a result of the 2010 Census, bringing the total of U.S. representatives for the state to 14.

Additional Georgia 2010 census data is available via FTP download at http://www2.census.gov/census_2010/01-Redistricting_File--PL_94-171/.

Within 24 hours after release, the data will be posted on the Census Bureau's new American FactFinder site http://factfinder2.census.gov. There is a tutorial on the site.