Warren County experiences slight growth

This year’s Springfest cleanup will be dedicated to the memory of Joe Bellamy (center) who died just after last year’s event.

This year’s Springfest cleanup will be dedicated to the memory of Joe Bellamy (center) who died just after last year’s event.

Warren County grew at the state average over the past three years, seeing an increase of 853 residents since the 2000 census.

The growth was reflected in the recently released U.S. Census Bureau 2003 estimates which revealed the state of Tennessee, like Warren County, had a .9 percent growth during the three-year period.

A total of 5,841,748 reside in Tennessee. Of that number, 39,129 live in Warren County. The population gain in the Nursery Capital comes despite the fact Warren County actually lost a handful of residents between 2001 and 2002 according to census estimates.

The estimates showed the vast majority of population increases nationally over the past three years came in the South, with the state of Georgia fielding five of the 10 fastest growing cities in the United States. The fastest growing was Loudon County, Va., a suburb of Washington D.C., where the population leaped by 30.7 percent in three years.

In Tennessee, Fayette County near Memphis, which boasts a population of around 32,000, saw the largest jump in just a one-year period with a 3.5 percent increase. Fayette County was followed closely by Rutherford and Williamson counties, both of which were among the nation’s fastest growing counties according to the 2000 census. Rutherford County’s population now stands at 202,310 and Williamson County at 141,301. The largest county in the nation is Los Angeles, Calif., with 9.9 million.