Louisa County leads population growth in region with 7.5 percent increase since 2020 Census

The entity sanctioned by the Commonwealth of Virginia for providing official population numbers is estimating that the Thomas Jefferson Planning District has increased by 3.2 percent since the 2020 United States Census. 

The Weldon Cooper Center at the University of Virginia estimates the total population of the six localities last July was 272,011. That’s up nearly 8,400 people from 263,617 as tracked by Weldon Cooper. The growth rate is the fourth highest among planning districts in Virginia, behind the George Washington Regional Commission, Crater, and Richmond Regional. 

• Louisa County has led the way locally with a 7.5 percent increase with a population estimate of 40,434 with 2,838 new residents since the Census.  That’s the third highest growth rate in the Commonwealth. 
• Greene has grown four percent since July 2023, adding 818 people for a total of 21,370.
• Fluvanna grew from 27,249 people to 28,214, a 3.5 percent increase. 
• Albemarle’s population grew 3.3 percent, adding 3,753 people for a total estimate of 116,148 people. 
• Charlottesville’s growth rate is 0.2 percent in three years with an estimated population of 51,132. The Weldon Cooper Center has questioned Census data for university towns from 2020 given that the count took place after students had been sent home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Weldon Cooper is instead using the 2020 estimates for localities where 20 percent or more of population are students. 
• Nelson is the only locality in the TJPDC with negative growth with 62 fewer people estimated to live there for a total of 14,713. That’s a decline of 0.4 percent. 

“Similar to what we are seeing in most of the state, rural/exurban counties are growing fastest in the Charlottesville area,” said Hamilton Lombard, estimates program manager in the demographics research group. “At this point a decade ago, Charlottesville was the fastest growing locality in the region, but since 2020 its population has barely changed.”

Virginia’s overall population has grown by one percent since 2020 with an estimate of 8,729,032. 

The locality with the highest growth rate is New Kent County to the east of Richmond with an 11.9 percent increase from 22,945 to 25,675. Next is Goochland with 7.7 percent growth with an increase from 24,727 people to 26,629. 

The growth rate was lowest in Buchanan County in far southwest Virginia with a 5.7 percent decline representing 1,164 fewer people. Buchanan is in the Cumberland Plateau Planning District which had a collective growth rate of 3.8 percent, or 3,780 fewer people. 

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