Milton's First Official Population 7 percent Higher Than Estimates

The 2010 Census established the City of Milton's population at 32,661, several thousand people more than estimates developed with the help of Georgia Power and the Atlana Regional Commission.

Milton, like its neighbor, Alpharetta, has a higher population of residents who are Asian than either African-American or of Hispanic ethnicity. But the city is predominantly white.

At the time of the Census, Milton had 12,328 housing units, with 669 of them vacant.

Milton's city manager, Chris Lagerbloom, and its Communications manager, Jason Wright, answered several questions about Census figures on Monday.

What does having these Census figures mean for city government?

Chris Lagerbloom: It’s just nice to have the numbers and data to establish our identity. And, we get to stop guessing. Our comprehensive planning, transportation planning, service delivery and coordination can now all benefit from having an accurate and current Census number to rely upon.

Previously, the City of Milton had partnered with the Atlanta Regional Commission and Georgia Power to establish a rough population estimate of 30,180. Given the Census places us at 32,661, that estimate was pretty good.

Where does this place the city in terms of state recognition, grant possibilities, sales tax collections and other issues?

Chris Lagerbloom: We are watching this closely, but it really is too soon to tell how it will exactly shake out. A couple of things will likely happen. The sales tax revenues the city receives are distributed on a per capita basis across all of Fulton County. That means, with Milton’s population jump, we likely will be a bigger percentage of the whole. Secondly, we anticipate an increase in the insurance premium tax collected by the city. 

A couple of scenarios are also possible with respect to grant opportunities. There are now grants for which we may qualify that we didn’t previously, and vice versa. Our funding match, which is typically required, may increase because of the documented larger population.

In total, there’s good and bad in all of this – but the good definitely outweighs the bad.

Is this much different than what had previously been estimated?

Jason Wright: Not substantially. During incorporation, a population of around 15,000 was official. City Council and staff estimated that number to be around 24,000 after a few tax seasons. 30,180 was the number used for planning purposes once work began on the Comprehensive Plan. So to only be off by 2,481 (about 7 percent) isn’t bad.

Where there any surprises in this latest release of information?

Jason Wright: Not really. We knew about where our population was going to be. And we had a pretty good idea of housing units because of the Parks and Recreation Needs Assessment Survey, which went out to more than 11,000 addresses. It’s just good to have the certified numbers to remove any shred of doubt.