The Numbers Game:

What the U.S. Census says about us

38

Percent of residents in Huntsville metro area born outside Alabama.

41

Percent of Madison City residents born inside Alabama.

62

Percentage increase since 2000 in number of Huntsvillians over 85.

2:1

Ratio of women to men 85 and older in Huntsville metro area.

163,668

Number of people gained by Huntsville City since 1950.

530

Number of Madison residents in 1950. Now about 43,000.

21

Percent of Huntsville metro area households consisting of husband, wife and children under 18.

12.5

Percent of Huntsville metro area households consisting of single mother and children under 18.

996

Percentage growth in Huntsville City since 1950.

-35

Percentage growth in Birmingham City since 1950.

145

Percent increase in Hispanic population in Alabama since 2000.

19,995

Hispanic population in Huntsville metro area in 2010.

$2.6 billion

Annual payroll in Madison County for "professional, scientific and technical services."

479

: Number of Huntsville homes worth $1 million or more as of 2010.

25

Percent of women in the Huntsville metro area over 15 and never married.

33

Percent of men in the Huntsville metro area men over 15 and never married.

7

Percent of residents in Huntsville City born in another country.

43

Percent of foreign-speaking Madison County residents with bachelor's degree or higher.

225

Percentage increase in Hispanic population within Huntsville city limits since 2000.

2:1

Ratio of Hispanic population in Huntsville versus Mobile.

37,287

Huntsville metro area residents with graduate or professional degrees.

56

Percent of Madison residents over 25 with a bachelors degree or higher.

33,909

Civilian veterans in Madison County.

11,540

Madison County veterans who served during Vietnam War.

27,646

Residents of Huntsville metro area who speak something besides English at home.

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Shouldn't the city fathers have by now issued some proclamation to make it all official?

Surely the orange-and-white traffic barrel should be declared the Official City Mascot and the construction crane declared the Official City Bird.

They're perfect symbols of what the census figures tell us, but what we already knew, in our rush-hour traffic, hour-long dinner waits and inability to find a parking space in the same ZIP code as the store where we're shopping at.

We're growing.

Huntsville and the surrounding area are undergoing mushrooming growth in population. (For a brief moment, "enjoying" was almost typed in place of "undergoing," but the last two years of driving on Governors Drive would belie that.)

The census revealed that the larger Huntsville metro area has become the second-largest metro area in the state of Alabama, passing Mobile.

Who's up for creating some "We're No. 2" foam fingers?

It's not just about bragging rights.

It's about economic growth and it's about power and clout.

"The population growth reinforces what we have been saying to prospective companies and workers around the country," said John Southerland, director of Cummings Research Park.

"Our metro population has increased by more than 40 percent just since 1990," Southerland continued. "That is a remarkable growth era for this community and it attracts the attention of company leaders in all of our targeted recruitment areas from across the nation and the world. A highly skilled, highly educated workforce, combined with a moderate cost of living are compelling reasons to consider expanding or relocating into the Huntsville metro area."

Huntsville metro, which includes all of Limestone County because of the number of workday commuters, has done its imitation of a teenage boy who grabbed last spring's favorite jeans and found the hem was halfway between knee and ankle. Our area has had its sudden growth spurts. That's presented even greater challenges.

And it's led to a demand for more and more traffic barrels, more construction crews to build a new building, refurbish an old one or give some needed Botox to an aging civic center complex.

With numbers come clout. Huntsville's growth gets more attention in the business world and helps assure success there.

"Population growth ultimately increases our labor force, but it also provides the customers needed to support locally owned and operated businesses and attract high profile national amenities," said Lucia Cape, Vice President, Workforce and Industry Relations for the Madison County-Huntsville Chamber of Commerce.

It also gets attention in Montgomery.

"A larger population provides a stronger voice in statewide issues, such as education and technology investment." Cape said.

Huntsville's greatest power source used to be rocket fuel. It's worth remembering that as the city marks Dr. Werhner von Braun's 100th birthday. The early days of the Space Age are the foundation on which the area continues to build.

Pat Yount was an engineer for the Chrysler Corporation during the embryonic days of the Space Age, traveling here regularly from Detroit.

OUTLOOK 2012

Census: The Changing Face of North Alabama

"I used to fly into Nashville and take the overnight train and get into Huntsville about 2 o'clock in the morning," he recalls. "There was a Greek restaurant that stayed open all night. It was the only place to get anything to eat that late. And the Hotel Russell Erskine was where we stayed."

Norm Perry, a quality-control officer working out of Redstone at the time, remembered that in those days "the city limits were just a few blocks square."

If that seems like ancient history, it's barely more than a half-century ago. According to the census, more than 14 percent of us would be able to easily remember that. Though, likely as not, we weren't living here at the time.

In Madison, the census says less half of the residents were born in this state.

Those new folks didn't know the days it took only five minutes to maneuver through Madison. Some here never knew a Huntsville without Bridge Street. Alas, they didn't know Eunice's biscuits, the Fog Cutter's filet or Jose Canseco's home runs launched toward the Parkway.

But there is one thing we all have in common, the need to drive cautiously.

There's a construction zone ahead.