The Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama has released a report on population trends in Alabama based on recent U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Birmingham followed a national trend of declining population in the city and its close-in suburbs as people moved farther from the city center into newer housing farther out.

The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area still ruled the state, though, coming in with more than twice the population of the second largest MSA, Huntsville. It surpasses the combined population of the second- and third-largest MSA, which was Mobile.

Huntsville (Limestone and Madison County), Decatur (Morgan County), and the Shoals (Colbert and Lauderdale Counties) had the most growth. In percentage terms, Baldwin County MSA grew the fastest.

Read the full analysis, with interactive charts and maps, on the PARCA website.