Where we are growing
The east Hamilton County suburb of Collegedale experienced the fastest rate of growth from 2010 to 2017 in the Chattanooga region, followed by Signal Mountain, Walden, Cleveland and Soddy Daisy, according to population estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. Among the top area cities, Rossville, Etowah, Bridgeport, Spring City and Lookout Mountain, Ga. lost population since the 2010 census.City // 2017 population // Growth since 2010Chattanooga // 179,139 // 6.8 percentCleveland // 44,483 // 7.7 percentDalton // 33,748 // 1.9 percentEast Ridge // 21,118 // 0.6 percentCartersville, Ga. // 20,978 // 6.4 percentSoddy-Daisy // 13,693 // 7.7 percentAthens // 13,615 // 1.2 percentRed Bank // 11,754 // 0.9 percentCollegedale // 11,659 // 40.8 percentFort Oglethorpe // 9,831 // 6.1 percentSignal Mountain // 8,560 // 13.3 percentDayton // 7,354 // 2.3 percentLaFayette, Ga. // 7,121 // 1.1 percentDunlap // 5,0775 // 4 percentChatsworth, Ga. // 4,300 // 0.1 percentRossville, Ga. // 3,984 // – 2.9 percentEtowah // 3,463 // – 0.8 percentJasper // 3,316 // 1.1 percentChickamauga // 3,144 // 1.4 percentSouth Pittsburg // 3,039 // 1.6 percentWalden // 2,118 // 11.6 percentBridgeport, Ala. // 2,312 // – 4.4 percentLookout Mountain, Tenn. // 1,872 // 2.3 percentSpring City // 1,857 // – 6.3 percentLookout Mountain, Ga. // 1,569 // – 2.1 percentSource: U.S. Bureau of Census population estimates
A century after Collegedale was founded as the site of Southern Adventist University (then Southern Junior College) in 1916, the college town has grown into one of the fastest growing cities in Tennessee.
The city of Collegedale, which was incorporated a half-century ago under a city manager government in 1968, has more than doubled its population since the turn of the century in 2000. The city grew by nearly 41 percent since the last official census count in 2010, according to new population estimates by the U.S. Bureau of Census.
Among Tennessee’s 100 largest cities, Collegedale is second only to the Nashville suburb of Mount Juliet in its growth rate from 2010 to 2017. Collegedale added 3,377 more residents during the past seven years to nearly match the population of Chattanooga’s second biggest suburb, Red Bank.
Collegedale grew as Southern Adventist College expanded into a full-scale university, McKee Foods became America’s biggest privately owned bakery and the nearby Enterprise South Industrial Park landed two of the region’s biggest employers – Volkswagen and Amazon, along with their suppliers.