Forecast: Gwinnett Will Be Region's Biggest County By 2040

DULUTH, GA -- Gwinnett will pass Fulton County and become the most populous county in metro Atlanta by the year 2040.

That’s the projection shared by Kerry Armstrong, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission, in his State of the Region address Wednesday in Duluth. The Gwinnett Daily Post covered the speech.

Gwinnett currently has a population of about 860,000. If current trends hold, that number is expected to continue growing in the coming years.

“Gwinnett plays a pivotal role in everything this region does,” said Armstrong, whose district on the board includes part of Gwinnett.

In addition to Gwinnett, the ARC area includes Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Henry and Rockdale counties.

As the Daily Post notes, the ARC’s website shows Gwinnett and Fulton are expected to both continue growing, with Gwinnett ultimately surpassing its southern neighbor.

Fulton is expected to hit the 1 million-person mark first, by 2020, but both counties are expected to be past that mark by 2030.

The commission’s data projects Gwinnett to have more than 1.235 million residents in 2040 -- a shade above the 1.23 million predicdted to be in Fulton. Collectively, the region is expected to have about 8 million people by that point. It currently has about 4.36 million.

“The growth is exciting and as (Armstrong) said, it brings with it challenges to the leadership that’s in positions now to make sure that we’ve set the plate for that high of a population,” Gwinnett County Administrator Glenn Stephens said to the Daily Post.