A new census is being taken next year, and this week the Atlanta Regional Commission released figures that go out three decades down the road, projecting Cobb population growth of 40 percent that will push the county past the one-million mark by the the year 2050.
The county currently has a population of more than 766,000, and the ARC is projecting that will grow by 295,000 over the next 30 years
Those figures are part of a larger forecast by the ARC that has the 21-county metro Atlanta growing by 2.9 million people, to 8.6 million, by 2050.
In addition, the area will gain 1.2 million more jobs in that time.
You can read summaries of the ARC report here and here.
Only Fulton and Gwinnett counties, the only ones more populous than Cobb, will remain that way, according to ARC, which says both will push beyond 1.4 million people each by 2050. DeKalb County is projected to come close to 1 million.
The ARC report indicates that Cobb’s Hispanic population will grow 21 percent over the next 30 or so years, and so will Cobb’s elderly population. By 2050, people 75 and older will make up 13 percent of the county population, compared to four percent today.
Greater diversity is anticipated through the 21 counties. Cobb currently has a white population of 54 percent, with blacks making up 25 percent, Hispanics 14 percent and others seven percent.
By 2040, ARC projects Cobb’s population will be minority-majority, with blacks, Hispanics and other groups making up 58 percent of the population, and whites 41 percent.
More detailed aging numbers show that Cobb now has an elderly population rate (age 65 and older) of 11.75 percent, but that will grow to 22.5 percent by 2040.
Cobb’s population has stagnated in the most recent population update put out by the ARC in August, with an increase of only 8,100 people since 2018. (East Cobb’s roughly estimated population is around 200,000, taking in ZIP codes 30062, 30066, 30067, 30068 and the Cobb portion of 30075).
Forsyth County population is expected to double by 2050, to more than 440,000, and Henry County is expected to have a growth rate of 70 percent.
The ARC projects that the largest job gains will be in the health care and social assistance; professional, scientific and technical; and construction sectors. The largest job losses, per the ARC, are forecast to occur in the manufacturing and utilities sectors.
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