The story of growth in Huntsville plays out in the numbers.

The Rocket City added more than 2,200 from 2017 to 2018, according to U.S. Census estimates released Thursday. That’s more than any other city in the state.

And neighboring Madison, the state's 10th-largest city, eclipsed the 50,000 mark in population last year.

But beyond the raw numbers, there is another measuring stick of growth.

A referendum will be held in Madison in September, asking property owners to vote to raise their property taxes. The reason, simply, is growth. There are more people crowding into Madison school system – perennially considered one of the tops in the state. The school system said if the tax hike is approved, it will build two new schools as well as expand both high schools.

So in this snapshot of growth, there are growing pains as well.

"I think anybody who's ever had children considers education an investment," Madison Mayor Paul Finley said. "To me, we're basically giving them the ability to continue to keep that education – in essence, the children's investment – at the level they moved here for."

That level of education includes more than $58 million in college scholarship money offered to the more than 900 graduates of the city’s two high schools. And 21 percent of the system’s students who took the ACT scored 30 or better.

"I'm proud to be a part of the team that's brought that forth," Finley said of the referendum, which has received approval from the city council and the state legislature. "There is a defined plan directly correlated with the numbers we have seen and know are coming. Without it, there are no more places to put them that allow us to keep doing what we're doing in the schools."

In Huntsville, Mayor Tommy Battle told much the same story.

The Rocket City continues to be on track – in about 6 years, projections indicate – to be the state's largest city. But the mayor has routinely swatted away such projections. Huntsville remains the state's third-largest city behind Birmingham and Montgomery with an estimated population of 197,318.

"A lot of people ask me the question, 'When are we going to be the biggest city?'" Battle said. "I'm not necessarily worried about being the biggest city. I'm worried about being the best city. If you're the best, the rest of it comes."

What's the plan to become the best?

Earlier this week, the city announced it had received the highest credit ratings from Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s for an 11th straight year. And the city will soon issue bonds in borrowing about $85 million to spend on quality of life amenities and infrastructure.

And the city is moving toward building a $40 million state-of-the-art amphitheater.

"That's our day-to-day job. How do we manage the growth that we've got?" the mayor said. "It's a great problem to have. But this is one of the challenges we have. Your first challenge comes to roads. Your second challenge comes to infrastructure – water, sewer, making sure you have everything that you need. The third challenge is how do you fill all the jobs that are here?"

Perhaps you’ve heard about the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing USA plant and its 4,000 jobs. Perhaps you’ve heard about the continued growth at Redstone Arsenal, including 1,350 FBI jobs announced last year and more expected in coming years. Perhaps you’ve heard about Facebook’s data center under construction in Huntsville.

"To fill the jobs, we have to make sure our population is educated enough to go into those jobs," Battle said. "But we've also got to make sure we can attract people to the area. And you attract people to the area with quality of life. A lot of the money we're spending right now is money on quality of life, how to make people say, 'Hey, that's a cool place. We want to go be in that cool place.'

"As we do that, we're able to put it all together and put a full package together that makes a good quality community."

And what benefits Huntsville benefits Madison and vice versa. And Madison is investing almost $80 million in Town Madison – a sprawling mixed-use development that includes a multi-use baseball stadium that next year will bring minor league baseball back to north Alabama.

"I'm truly proud to be a part of this community right now," Finley said. "So many of the reasons we're growing are entities that represent the United States. Everything that's purchased for the Army is done out on Redstone Arsenal (at the Army Materiel Command). Everything that helps with missile defense and propulsion when it comes to NASA is on the arsenal. So many of our citizens are doing that each and every day.

“There is a lot of pride when your city is growing and people want to move here because of the quality of life. And you take it very seriously as an elected official to do what you said you would do, which is to work diligently to try to improve it.”

More from the census in Birmingham

More from the census in Mobile

More from census statistics statewide: Alabama’s fastest growing and shrinking cities