Metropolitan Chattanooga is older, less educated and not as diverse as most of America.
But census figures indicate that the Chattanooga area still grew faster than the U.S. average in the past decade, especially within the city of Chattanooga.
In a new analysis of America’s major cities, the Brookings Institution lists metro Chattanooga as “a midsized magnet” for its recruitment of new residents and businesses since the dawn of the 21st century. From 2000 to 2008, the six-county Chattanooga area grew 10 percent faster than the U.S. average even though the share of the region’s minority population is only about half that of the average for other major metro areas.
“Midsized magnet areas (like Chattanooga) have experienced high growth, while recording a lower proportion of Hispanic and Asian residents, as well as lower educational attainment,” said Alan Berube, a senior policy analyst for the Brookings Institution.
Fewer than one in five residents in the six-county Chattanooga metro area identified their race as other than white, according to the most recent American Community Survey compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Census. Nationwide, nearly 35 percent of the U.S. population is now classified as nonwhite.