The story
History
The Cornelius area has been settled since at least the 1750s. Potts Plantation was established near Cornelius in 1753. The town of Cornelius, the second youngest of Mecklenburg County's six incorporated towns, was founded in 1893, but not incorporated until March 4, 1905. The town's origin has been traced by many historians to a dispute over cotton weighing.
Cornelius has experienced explosive growth during the 2000s, swelling from under 2,600 in the 1990 census to over 31,000 in the 2020 census. The greatest percentage growth was 364% between the 1990 and 2000 censuses, but in absolute terms the population has nearly tripled from under 12,000 in 2000 to the low to mid 30,000s today.
Potts Plantation was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Cornelius had a population of 31,412. The median age was 42.9 years. 21.8% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.1% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 91.7 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 88.7 males age 18 and over.
100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 13,528 households in Cornelius, including 7,853 family households. Of all households, 50.5% were married-couple households, 15.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 27.9% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 29.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. 29.5% of households had children under the age of 18 living in them.
There were 14,536 housing units, of which 6.9% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.1% and the rental vacancy rate was 6.1%.
2000 census
At the 2000 census, there were 11,969 people, 5,113 households, and 3,374 families living in the town. The population density was 1,415.5 people per square mile (546.5 people/km2). There were 5,716 housing units at an average density of 676.0 per square mile (261.0/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 91.65% White, 5.62% African American, 0.21% Native American, 1.24% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.50% from other races, and 0.74% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.79% of the population.
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Of the 5,113 households 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.8% were married couples living together, 6.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.0% were non-families. 27.0% of households were one person and 5.2% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.87.
The age distribution was 22.4% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 36.7% from 25 to 44, 27.2% from 45 to 64, and 7.9% 65 or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.9 males.
From Wikipedia’s article on Cornelius, North Carolina, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5