Charlotte region growing by 117 new people every day

The Charlotte region is growing by 117 new people every day, according to the latest research from the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance.

Why it matters: This fresh statistic is a jump from CLT Alliance's report last year, which tallied 113 new daily residents.

• The population growth, studied from mid-2022 to mid-2023, signals that the 15-county Charlotte region is an appealing place to live. Plus, an expanding talent pool is good for business.

Yes, but: The new research will ramp up community wide urgency to mitigate Charlotte's growing pains, from lagging infrastructure and worsening traffic congestion to a tug-of-war over building dense, more affordable housing next to longstanding, single-family homes.

The intrigue: Stakeholders regularly refer to CLT's Alliance "113 people moving to Charlotte" stat to justify public investments, such as new schools and transit .

• Now that talking point is a few digits higher.

The big picture: More than 500,000 of the people who moved to the Carolinas in 2022 did not live in either state a year ago, CLT Alliance reports.

• Most came from Virginia (45,365 new residents), New York (40,561) and California (37,922).
• 78,512 were international migrants.

Zoom out: 117 new residents is the same number as Atlanta.

• It's more than Raleigh (59), Nashville (67) and Austin (92).
• It's less than Houston (251) and Dallas (285), although CLT Alliance notes those metros are significantly larger.

Zoom in: More than 59,000 people who moved to the region have a bachelor's degree or higher. The population now has more than 687,000 residents with higher education.

• An educated population strengthens the area's competitiveness to lure high-tech industries and corporations, CLT Alliance suggests.

The fine print: The Charlotte region encompasses Alexander, Cabarrus, Chester, Chesterfield Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lancaster, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Stanly, Union and York counties, per CLT Alliance's definition.