Chattahoochee, Ga. tops fastest growing list

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- After a 5-year run, Flagler County, Florida ceded its position as the nation's fastest growing county to Chattahoochee County in Georgia, the Census Bureau said Thursday.

Chattahoochee had a 13.2 percent increase in population to 14,000 in the latest rankings, which covered the period from July 1, 2005 to July 1, 2006. Flagler's 9.3 percent gain to 83,000 was good only for fifth place.

On a strictly numerical basis, Maricopa County, Arizona gained the most population, with a more than 129,000 increase.

Chattahoochee County, which lies on the Alabama border in western Georgia, is still a lightly populated, mostly rural area that has gained numbers from the expansion outward of the Columbus metropolitan area.

The second fastest growing county, at 12.9 percent, was Pinal, in southern Arizona. This county has started to take the overflow of neighboring Maricopa County.

The third fastest grower, and the only one not located in the South or West, was Kendall County, a far suburb of Chicago, where many new subdivisions are transforming the lightly settled area.

Of the 10 counties that lost the most population during the period, eight were in Katrina-impacted parts of Mississippi and Louisiana. St. Bernard Parish lost 76.9 percent of its population and Orleans Parish 53.9 percent.

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