Downtown Cleveland grows

Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland shown in this photo, likely no longer is the most populated county in Ohio.

(Lonnie Timmons III, The Plain Dealer file)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Franklin County has likely overtaken Cuyahoga as the most populated county in Ohio, but official word will have to wait another year.



New estimates released Thursday by the Census Bureau showed Cuyahoga County holding a narrow lead over Franklin - 1,255,921 to 1,251,722.



But those estimates are for July 1, 2015.



Based on the trends for both counties, Franklin has since passed Cuyahoga - unless there has been a drastic change in the pattern in the last few months. The Census Bureau will not release its 2016 estimates until next year.



Cuyahoga lost an estimated 4,689 people from 2014 to 2015, while Franklin, home for Columbus, gained 17,596 residents.



The estimated annual loss for Cuyahoga was its sharpest since 2010-2011, when the county lost an estimated 8,406 people from July to July.



Cuyahoga's population stood at 1,280,122 at the time of the census in April 2010, well ahead of Franklin County's total of 1,163,414.



The population for the seven-county Greater Cleveland area of Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Summit, slipped by 3,861 people from 2014 to 2015 to 2,765,053. But the area remains the most densely population region of Ohio.



Cuyahoga and Summit lost population; the other five gained.

Franklin and its surrounding six counties total 1,922,082 in population, leaving the immediate Columbus area 842,971 smaller than Greater Cleveland.

One reason Cuyahoga has lost is that it is more fully built out than all other counties in Ohio. So as family sizes shrink, population goes down. Additionally, vacancies are widespread in Cleveland, especially on the East Side.

Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, examines a variety of issues with Numbers Behind the News. Follow on Twitter @RichExner



County population estimates

Here are the latest estimates for Ohio's 88 counties, listed in order of size.