Nashville outgrows Memphis

Title of largest city in state changes hands

The largest city in Tennessee is officially no longer Memphis. New Census figures pass that crown to Nashville.

Census population estimates released Thursday show Nashville was home to 660, 388 people in 2016. Memphis had 652,717 residents, falling 7,671 short of Nashville.

The growth in Middle Tennessee wasn’t limited to Nashville, which rises a notch to replace Memphis as the nation’s 24th largest city. Memphis steps back to 25th.

Murfreesboro, roughly 35 miles southeast of Nashville, is for a second year one of the nation’s 15 fastest-growing large cities.

With 4.7 percent growth to a population of 131,947, Murfreesboro was the only Tennessee city on the fastest-growing list by percentage growth that included six cities in Texas and two in Florida.

It’s taken decades, but population growth in Nashville has been gaining on Memphis, where gains have halting, at best. Census estimates show that Memphis had a population loss of 1,737 from 2015 to 2016. Nashville gained 6,310.

However, Nashville’s real boost in the race to become Tennessee’s largest city came on June 28, 1962. .That’s when voters in what were then the city of Nashville and Davidson County approved the consolidation of city and county governments to form the nation’s first fully metropolitan government.

With the consolidation of local governments, the Census counts not only the population of what was the city of Nashville, but also Davidson County’s population except for six remaining “satellite cities,” officials said.

In 1960, before metro government, the Census listed a population of 497,524 for Memphis and 170,874 for Nashville. In 1970, following metro government, Nashville jumped to 448,003 while Memphis rose to 623,530.

In 1960, Memphis was the nation’s 22nd largest city and Nashville was 73rd. In 1970, Memphis had climbed to 17th, but Nashville catapulted to 30th.

Growth also can be measured in square miles. In 1960, Memphis claimed 128 square miles com-