Estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that the population of Nicholson grew by 8.87 percent from July 1, 2007, to July 1, 2008.
If true, that makes Nicholson easily the fastest-growing community in Jackson County, outpacing Pendergrass, which ranked second at 7.53 percent. Commerce brought up the rear at 2.01 percent growth during the period.
Nicholson Mayor Ronnie Maxwell expressed doubts about the growth rate.
“We had a couple of houses built and annexed a couple of spots, but I don’t know where the (additional) people came from,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot. We made some adjustments on our tax map that brought some people in who hadn’t been counted before. I think bringing some people in — correcting the tax maps — was probably the reason.”
The Census Bureau released the estimates, based on the number of building permits and mobile home permits issued during the 12-month period late last week.
The estimates indicate that Jefferson remains the county’s largest city, with a population of 7,911, up 6.74 percent during the 12-month period. Commerce remains second at 6,394.
The annual estimates take the number of housing units from the 2000 Census and compensate for new houses by multiplying their number by the average number of residents per household from the 2000 Census, while removing housing units that are destroyed or removed. It takes a similar approach with mobile homes, based on data about the number of mobile homes shipped into any jurisdiction.
The methodology assumes that housing units are occupied within six months of the building permits being issued. It apparently does not take into consideration vacant houses that have either never been sold or occupied or from which owners have been forced out due to foreclosure and who may have relocated from one political subdivision to another.
Local Municipal Growth Rates
Municipality July 08 July 07 Change
Arcade 1,951 1,919 1.66
Braselton 5,565 5,242 6.16
Commerce 6,394 6,268 2.01
Danielsville 453 451 0.44
Homer 1,092 1,075 1.58
Hoschton 1,612 1,552 3.86
Hull 161 161 0.00
Ila 302 298 0.30
Jefferson 7,911 7,441 6.74
Maysville 1,663 1,620 2.65
Nicholson 2,060 1,892 8.87
Pendergrass 642 597 7.53
Talmo 605 590 2.54
