Jacksonville is Growing, but How Fast?

[Metro Jacksonville]

Jacksonville is Growing, but How Fast?



Due to the housing bust and slumping economy, Florida is growing slower than ever in the past three decades.  The local media paints a bad picture for Jacksonville, but how do we really rank when it comes to population growth?

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/750

[scaleybark]

Dallas is number one!

Wasn't Dallas in a major slump for the past couple of decades?  Did they miss out on the real estate bubble years?  I recall reading articles about how downtown Dallas was struggling, and how so many of those skyscrapers were falling into disrepair, with leaky windows and everything.  Perhaps they are making up for lost time.

[Ocklawaha]

Dallas got Light Rail... We didn't...

Ocklawaha

[JeffreyS]

I was listening to Clark Howard talking about this census report. He commented that other than Chicago the top ten growing cities all had low taxes, low housing costs and local leadership that made it easy to do business.  Chicago is just a great place to live and because of the El train you can live any where and enjoy the whole city.

[thelakelander]

He commented that other than Chicago the top ten growing cities all had low taxes, low housing costs and local leadership that made it easy to do business.

Well we have two of these three things.  Now we'll need our local leadership to do things that make it easier to conduct business.  If this point would have been addressed ten years ago, we probably would have cracked the top 10, given our history and natural assets.

[jeh1980]

Dallas got Light Rail... We didn't...

Ocklawaha

We all due respect,...but what's that got to do with it?

[David]

Anyone have any guestamations on what the population of the urban core would be? Sure, we're a metro area of 1.3 million people, but if you narrow it down to where most of the people on here live, say maybe revert our city limits back to the pre-consolidation era, what would our population be then?

(insomnia induced curiosity) I'll do some research at work later on.

[thelakelander]

I remember a few years ago, someone posted these numbers.  I don't remember the exact number, but the old city limits were around 110,000 or so (2000 census), which is well below the +200,000 it had during the 1950s and 1960s.  So, our city's core has declined just as much (percentage wise) as the Detroits and Gary,Indianas of the country, but it was masked by consolidation.  The good thing about this is, at least we know that the infrastructure there now was built to serve double the population.  Urban infill should be a priority.

[Driven1]

Urban infill should be a priority.

that is supposedly what the p&z committee is supposed to be doing...actually, it is more of a suburban infill - being more strict on approving anything except medium density or high density residential.

[lewyn]

Jacksonville is Growing, but How Fast?



Due to the housing bust and slumping economy, Florida is growing slower than ever in the past three decades.  The local media paints a bad picture for Jacksonville, but how do we really rank when it comes to population growth?

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/750

This chart is silly.    Because Jacksonville was never as big as Dallas or Atlanta, its growth rate will always be lower in raw numbers.  For example, suppose Dallas grows from 5 million to 6 million but City X grows from 1 million to 1.5 million.  Dallas will have grown by only 20% while City X will have grown by 50%- obviously, City X will have more impressive growth by any non-moronic criterion, even if it has added fewer people.

Why not do a chart comparing Jacksonville's percentage growth rate to that of other cities?

[thelakelander]

Although a percentage growth rate chart would be nice if someone would have been willing to tabulate the growth rates at the time this article came out, I would not say its silly.  It is what it is......a chart showing where Jax ranks among US Metro areas in terms of numerical growth between July 1, 2006-July 1, 2007.

Anyway, here's the 10 fastest-growing US Metro Areas by percentage number:

1. Palm Coast - 7.2%
2. St. George, Utah - 5.1%
3. Raleigh-Cary, NC - 4.7%
4. Gainesville, GA - 4.5%
5. Austin-Round Rock, TX - 4.3%
6. Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach - 4.2%
7. Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord - 4.2%
8. New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner - 4.0%
9. Grand Junction, CO - 3.7%
10. Clarksville, TN - 3.7%

As for Dallas and Jacksonville:

Dallas-Fort-Worth-Arlington, TX - 2.7%
Jacksonville - 1.7%

see full list here: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/cb08-49table3.xls
 

[gatorback]

I can speak for Austin. Austin understands the importance of human resources.  Human resources is the key to Austin's growth.  I can also speak for Jacksonville.  Human resources are a renewable commodity.  Jacksonville doesn't have to invest in their human resources because there's going to another crop next year that will work for less and longer hours.  Jacksonville gives incentives to businesses to create high paying positions but the business don't follow through. I know, I helped CSX consolidate 27 regional terminal centers to Jacksonville and in doing so they got ride of a lot of jobs and Everbank is the hellcat we've all grown to hate. Then John Snow became Treasury Security and screwed that position up too.   Who would have guess that Snow was Jacksonville's biggest problem in a post Sandra Day O Conner economy.

[thelakelander]

surely there is a chart available somewhere

There is. Click on the link and you'll find the list, ranked by metropolitan area population size.  From that point, its up to you to take the time to rank the 100 largest metro areas (there's 363 in all) by percentage rate.  Unfortunately, a percentage rate chart would also have to include the smallest metro areas whose growth rates can balloon when the local prison is expanded.  This list would include places like Palm Coast that have a high percentage rate, but the absolute numbers are still pretty low.  This is where you'll have to do your homework to compile a list by percentage growth.