At 403,892, Raleigh is the state’s second largest city, behind Charlotte (731,424), but it’s also the fastest growing: Raleigh’s population is up 46 percent since 2000, while Charlotte gained 35 percent … according to official U.S. Census data released today.
So it isn’t just your imagination that Raleigh’s roads — essentially unchanged in a decade — are twice as crowded as they used to be.
Wake County, by the way, will soon overtake Mecklenburg as North Carolina’s biggest. Wake’s population was pegged at 900,993, slightly behind Meck’s 919,628. But Wake grew 43 percent over the decade vs. Meck’s 32 percent.
Durham ranks as the state’s fifth largest city (after Greensboro and Winston-Salem), pop: 228,330, up 22 percent over the decade.