After nearly 120 years as Tennessee’s largest city, Memphis is on the verge of surrendering that title to fast-growing Nashville, census estimates released Thursday show.
As of July 1 of last year, Memphis clung to a 1,160-person edge in population — 655,770 to 654,610, according to the estimates. The gap, which had totaled almost 12,000 just a year earlier, closed as Memphis lost 712 residents and Nashville gained 9,881. As recently as the 2010 Census, Memphis had about 45,000 more residents than Nashville.
In East Tennessee, Chattanooga also moved closer to Knoxville in size, although the Scenic City still had 8,403 fewer residents than Knoxville last July, according to the census estimates.
Chattanooga ranked as America’s 137th biggest city last year and has grown more than 3.7 percent since the 2000 census. Knoxville was the 129th biggest city in 2015 and grew just under 3.6 percent since 2000.
Tennessee’s fastest growing major city was Murfreesboro, which grew 15.7 percent in the past half decade. Atlanta grew 10.4 percent from 2000 to 2015, while Nashville increased by 8.5 percent in the same period.
Cleveland, Tennessee grew at a healthy 6.3 percent rate from 2000 to 2015, but Dalton, Georgia grew at a much slower 2.2 percent pace in the same period.
The latest census numbers, which cover municipalities and other “sub-county” areas, reaffirm a (continue reading)