West Tennessee may be on track to add more than 176,000 people to its population over 25 years following the announcement of Ford and SK’s Blueoval City in 2021, but it is one of the closest to new manufacturing plants. The county has yet to see the resident count balloons.

The large electric vehicle and battery manufacturing campus is located in Stanton, a small Haywood county town near the Fayette and Tipton counties border.

According to the Tennessee Department of Economic Community Development, Haywood County is expected to grow by a whopping 42.4% (an increase of 7,446 in mostly rural areas). projection. But so far, that growth has been slow to come to fruition. From 2022 to 2024, Haywood County lost about 1.3% of its population.

According to the state memo, the population growth forecast was compiled in August 2023 and represents a “medium-active growth scenario that would occur without substantial investment in infrastructure and public services.”

Fayette County is the highest in stretches over the last two years, up 2.2%, equaling about 1,000 new residents. But an influx of over 3,500 people will have to move to the county to meet State forecast Of the 47,042 residents by 2025.

Tipton County rose by 0.9% between 2022 and 2024, but at least 2,500 people will need to be added to meet the state’s 66,000 housing 2025 forecast.

Representatives from the Economic Community Development Bureau could not immediately request comment.

In Haywood County, Blueoval City has pledged to create a total of 5,800 jobs as a condition of the state’s incentive. Ford originally aimed to start production of electric next-generation pickup trucks in 2025, but the plant is expected to start production of trucks in 2027. A Ford spokesman said in August that he was confident that the company will fulfill its obligations under the incentive agreement.

The announcement of the manufacturing plant locations has appeared in West Tennessee for the past few years, particularly in the state’s growing electric vehicle and battery sector. This growth is incentivized by federal grants, loans and tax credits, including funds allocated from the Inflation Reduction Act to Strengthen the Manufacturing of U.S. electric vehicles. The future of these Biden-era investments under President Donald Trump’s administration is unknown.

Overall, 21 counties in West Tennessee already collectively surpass the state’s 15.74 million population forecast for 2025. estimate As of July 2024, the region’s population has reached 1,577,531 from the Boyd Center for Business and Economics at the University of Tennessee Knoxville.