How Charlotte, other Carolina cities measure up on growth

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The latest evidence of the Carolinas’ attractiveness is out, in the form of a new study by WalletHub that ranks the nation’s fastest-growing cities.

The personal finance website didn’t just crunch population figures, though — WalletHub analyzed more than 500 cities, sorting them by population size and using 15 measures of both growth and decline over a period of seven years. The data set ranges from population growth to unemployment rate decrease to growth in regional GDP per capita, with each city assigned an overall score on a 100-point scale.

Charlotte is among the leaders, coming in at No. 4 in the category for large cities with a score of 61.81. But it’s a much smaller town topping the list of booming Carolina locales — that honor goes to Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. The Charleston suburb, with a score of 70.87, is the only city across the two states to place on the overall ranking, landing at No. 8. Mount Pleasant is No. 3 in the category for small cities.

For comparison, the top-ranked overall city — Fort Meyers, Florida, also in the small-size category — has a score of 76.57, while Austin, Texas, tops the list of large cities with a score of 65.83.

Check out this photo gallery to see how other cities across the Carolinas stacked up in terms of growth.

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