Putnam Mayor Believes County Outgrew 2020 Census Data

Putnam County is the 17th largest county in the state after the U.S. Census data was released.

The population total is 79,854, with 10.4 percent growth.

Mayor Randy Porter said it was an unusual census, with delays in the numbers being released and pandemic issues during the data collection. Porter said that talk around the 2020 census is that numbers would be dated by the time they were released.

“I think when you look at Putnam County’s real estate market, construction growth, the way people are moving in here,” Porter said. “I think we would have at least a couple, or three more thousand added to that number by now.”

Porter said that based on all the estimates he was following before the number release, the county was pegged for over 80,000 residents.  Porter said a majority of the growth has occurred since 2018, when 2017 construction numbers started rising.

“We get a lot of people who live in Putnam County and drive to Nashville and other places to work,” Porter said. “They like to work in the big cities but they’d like to live out in the more rural areas. So I think you’re going to see Putnam County and the areas around us in the Upper Cumberland continue to grow over the next several years. I don’t know how long that lasts, you never know how long a trend will last but I think at least over the next two or three years it is going to continue.”

Porter said the old saying goes, either you are growing or you are dying. However, he said his top concern and priority is not letting growth get out of hand because once you’re behind it is nearly impossible to catch up.

“We’re constantly looking at things that we can do to make sure that we stay along with the growth,” Porter said. “Like the new school that we’re building. We’re having to build an addition to the justice center, to the jail and the county commission has been very good and very forward thinking.”

He said maintaining a high quality of life is key to keeping the same hometown feeling in the county while it grows. Porter said he believes growth will continue over the next decade, but likely not at the same rate.