For the first time ever, officials estimate that Gwinnett County's population exceeds 900,000 residents.
According to numbers released this week by the Atlanta Regional Commission, Gwinnett's population is estimated to be 910,700, up 16,700 from last year's numbers.
If, or more likely when, Gwinnett tops 1,000,000 residents, it would join Fulton County as the only other Metro Atlanta county to reach seven digits with its population.
If growth continues at this pace, that could happen as soon as 2025, said Jim Skinner, a planner with the Atlanta Regional Commission's Research and Analytics Division.
On the whole, ARC officials believe job growth is what's fueling population growth across metro Atlanta, with the region adding 41,000 jobs from April 2017 to April 2018 — the ninth-largest increase for any region nationwide over that span.
“People are moving to metro Atlanta because of our strong, diverse economy and our great quality of life,” said Mike Carnathan, manager of ARC’s Research & Analytics Group, in a statement.
“We’re seeing growth across metro Atlanta.”
Gwinnett has proven to be one of the fastest-growing counties in the region since 1970, increasing more than 12-fold since its population was pegged at 72,349 some 48 years ago.
ARC’s annual population estimates are a great tool to help local governments plan for the future and focus the region’s attention on key issues critical to our quality of life, like housing affordability and transportation,” said Kerry Armstrong, ARC Board Chair.
The ARC covers a 10-county region, which includes Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties, plus the City of Atlanta.
As we reported a couple of weeks ago, the population of Hall County is now estimated to be just under 200,000, according to the Census Bureau.
(AccessWDUN's Ken Stanford contributed to this story.)
