New census figures show county, cities’ 2000-2010 population changes
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette
Friday March 18, 2011 — With the release this week of the official 2010 census data for Kentucky cities and counties, Nelson County residents can confirm their observation: There are more of us living here than there were 10 years ago.
From 2000 to 2010, Nelson County’s population figure grew from 37,477 to 43,437, a 15.9 percent increase. The county’s growth was more than twice the state’s growth rate of 7.4 percent.
All of the counties surrounding Nelson also recorded population increases when comparing 2000 and 2010 census data. Bullitt and Spencer County showed the greatest growth percentages, with Spencer recording a 45 percent population increase (11,766 to 17,061) and Bullitt County figures showing a 21.4 percent population increase (61,236 to 74,319).
Hardin County, home of Fort Knox, showed a 12.1 percent population increase (94,174 to 105,543) despite the loss of some industry in the county and various mission changes at Fort Knox.
Marion, Washington and LaRue counties had 2000-2010 population increases of 8.8, 7.3 and 6.1 percent, respectively.
THE CITIES BY THE NUMBERS. The official census figures for Bardstown, the county’s largest city, grew by 12.8 percent, from 10,374 to 11,700 from 2000 to 2010. Bardstown embarked on a series of ambitious — and controversial — annexations in the middle of the last decade, expanding the city limits to include industrial areas along Spencer Mattingly Lane, the new Walmart and out KY 245 to the new site of Flaget Memorial Hospital. The move placed workers in those areas under the city’s then-new occupational tax.
In statewide rankings of Kentucky cities, Bardstown ranks 31st in population among the state’s 423 incorporated cities.
In the new census data, Bloomfield loses its status as the county’s second-largest city; that honor now goes to New Haven. The census shows a small population increase in New Haven (849 to 855, or 0.7 percent), and a slight population decline in Bloomfield (855 to 83, a 2 percent decrease).
Fairfield, the county’s smallest incorporated city, registered a 56.9 percent population increase, from 72 in 2000 to 113 residents in the 2010 census.
Here’s how some other Central Kentucky cities fared in the census:
- Elizabethtown: 22,542 to 28,531, 26.6 percent increase;
- Campbellsville, 10,498 to 9,108, a drop of 13.2 percent;
- Frankfort, 27,741 to 25,527, a drop of 8 percent;
- Harrodsburg, 8,014 to 8,340, 4.1 percent increase;
- Hodgenville, 2,874 to 3,206, 11.6 percent increase;
- Lebanon, 5,718 to 5,539, a drop of 3.1 percent;
- Leitchfield, 6,139 to 6,699, increase of 9.1 percent;
- Mount Washington, 8,485 to 9,117, a 7.4 percent increase;
- Shepherdsville, 8,334 to 11,222, an increase of 34.7 percent;
- Springfield, 2,634 to 2,519, a drop of 4.4 percent.
For more information on the 2010 Census data in Kentucky, visit the Kentucky State Data Center website.
-30-
