{"id":618,"date":"2026-04-12T23:52:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T23:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/?p=618"},"modified":"2026-04-22T21:42:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T21:42:46","slug":"4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/","title":{"rendered":"4\/13\/26: CRER White Paper &#8211; Population Growth in the Chattanooga Region"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"335\" height=\"398\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/04\/Picture1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-619\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The U.S. Census Bureau released its latest estimates of county-level population growth and the CRER has released a new white paper from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.utc.edu\/gary-w-rollins-college-of-business\/crer\/people#HowardJWallDirectorandChiefEconomist\">center director and chief economist Howard Wall.<\/a> Along with other areas in central and eastern Tennessee, the Chattanooga metro area saw its population grow at more than twice the national rate between 2020 and 2025, and it should cross the 600,000 threshold sometime in the late summer of 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The main source of this growth was net migration from other areas of the country. As a group, the metro area\u2019s three Tennessee counties grew by 6.6 percent, with a 5 percent rate of domestic migration. The three Georgia counties grew by only 2.8 percent, but had a 4.5 percent rate of domestic migration. International migration was the main source of population growth for the country as a whole, but was a relatively minor factor in the Chattanooga region. Even so, the relatively small foreign-born population in the Chattanooga metro area grew by about 25 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.utc.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/2026-04\/crer-white-paper-15-population.pdf\">Download the paper here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Census Bureau released its latest estimates of county-level population growth and the CRER has released a new white paper from center director and chief economist Howard Wall. Along with other areas in central and eastern Tennessee, the Chattanooga metro area saw its population grow at more than twice the national rate between 2020&hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><span><a class=\"more-link button text\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/\"><span>Continue Reading <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2009,"featured_media":619,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-618","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-data-release","8":"category-research","9":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>4\/13\/26: CRER White Paper - Population Growth in the Chattanooga Region - Center for Regional Economic Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"4\/13\/26: CRER White Paper - Population Growth in the Chattanooga Region - Center for Regional Economic Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The U.S. Census Bureau released its latest estimates of county-level population growth and the CRER has released a new white paper from center director and chief economist Howard Wall. Along with other areas in central and eastern Tennessee, the Chattanooga metro area saw its population grow at more than twice the national rate between 2020&hellip; Continue Reading\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Center for Regional Economic Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-12T23:52:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-22T21:42:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/04\/Picture1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"335\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"398\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Howard Wall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Howard Wall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/12\\\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/12\\\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Howard Wall\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac8ac7d353aec89023a6f279055ecfa7\"},\"headline\":\"4\\\/13\\\/26: CRER White Paper &#8211; Population Growth in the Chattanooga Region\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-12T23:52:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-22T21:42:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/12\\\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":174,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/12\\\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/152\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Picture1.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Data Release\",\"White Paper\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/12\\\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/12\\\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\\\/\",\"name\":\"4\\\/13\\\/26: CRER White Paper - Population Growth in the Chattanooga Region - Center for Regional Economic Research\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/12\\\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/12\\\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/152\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Picture1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-12T23:52:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-22T21:42:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac8ac7d353aec89023a6f279055ecfa7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/12\\\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/12\\\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/12\\\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/152\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Picture1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/152\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Picture1.png\",\"width\":335,\"height\":398},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/12\\\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"4\\\/13\\\/26: CRER White Paper &#8211; Population Growth in the Chattanooga Region\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/\",\"name\":\"Center for Regional Economic Research\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac8ac7d353aec89023a6f279055ecfa7\",\"name\":\"Howard Wall\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/571e5d3012a39e45f7a5e238e3e07aaa9fb2f726c67da5824ee6cbfa92d65bda?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/571e5d3012a39e45f7a5e238e3e07aaa9fb2f726c67da5824ee6cbfa92d65bda?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/571e5d3012a39e45f7a5e238e3e07aaa9fb2f726c67da5824ee6cbfa92d65bda?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Howard Wall\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/author\\\/dtt728\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"4\/13\/26: CRER White Paper - Population Growth in the Chattanooga Region - Center for Regional Economic Research","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"4\/13\/26: CRER White Paper - Population Growth in the Chattanooga Region - Center for Regional Economic Research","og_description":"The U.S. Census Bureau released its latest estimates of county-level population growth and the CRER has released a new white paper from center director and chief economist Howard Wall. Along with other areas in central and eastern Tennessee, the Chattanooga metro area saw its population grow at more than twice the national rate between 2020&hellip; Continue Reading","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/","og_site_name":"Center for Regional Economic Research","article_published_time":"2026-04-12T23:52:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-22T21:42:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":335,"height":398,"url":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/04\/Picture1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Howard Wall","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Howard Wall","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/"},"author":{"name":"Howard Wall","@id":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/#\/schema\/person\/ac8ac7d353aec89023a6f279055ecfa7"},"headline":"4\/13\/26: CRER White Paper &#8211; Population Growth in the Chattanooga Region","datePublished":"2026-04-12T23:52:25+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-22T21:42:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/"},"wordCount":174,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/04\/Picture1.png","articleSection":["Data Release","White Paper"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/","name":"4\/13\/26: CRER White Paper - Population Growth in the Chattanooga Region - Center for Regional Economic Research","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/04\/Picture1.png","datePublished":"2026-04-12T23:52:25+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-22T21:42:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/#\/schema\/person\/ac8ac7d353aec89023a6f279055ecfa7"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/04\/Picture1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/04\/Picture1.png","width":335,"height":398},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/12\/4-13-26-crer-white-paper-population-growth-in-the-chattanooga-region\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"4\/13\/26: CRER White Paper &#8211; Population Growth in the Chattanooga Region"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/","name":"Center for Regional Economic Research","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/#\/schema\/person\/ac8ac7d353aec89023a6f279055ecfa7","name":"Howard Wall","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/571e5d3012a39e45f7a5e238e3e07aaa9fb2f726c67da5824ee6cbfa92d65bda?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/571e5d3012a39e45f7a5e238e3e07aaa9fb2f726c67da5824ee6cbfa92d65bda?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/571e5d3012a39e45f7a5e238e3e07aaa9fb2f726c67da5824ee6cbfa92d65bda?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Howard Wall"},"url":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/author\/dtt728\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2009"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":623,"href":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618\/revisions\/623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}