By AMY JONES / Associate Editor

Shelby County saw a major population boom in the last 10 years, according to 2010 Census information released Feb. 24 from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Shelby County’s population increased by 36 percent to 195,085 between 2000 and 2010, according to the census. Shelby County is now the fifth-largest county in the state, trailing only Jefferson, Mobile, Madison and Montgomery.

Hoover also saw a major population increase of 30 percent, to 81,619. Ten years ago, Hoover’s population was 62,742 — a gain of 18,877.

Hoover Mayor Tony Petelos said he expects the city to continue to grow at the same rate for quite a while.

“We still have a lot of land that’s undeveloped in the city of Hoover,” he said. “We have several subdivisions that still have plenty of room to build more houses. We will continue to grow for many years, not just for the next 10 but for 20 or 30 more years.”

Petelos said he was not surprised to see the high rate of growth because the city continued to get a high number of new housing permits every year, even through the economic downturn.

He said Hoover has many advantages, such as a strong school system and plenty of retail businesses.

“Hoover started off with 450 people 44 years ago, and now has grown close to 82,000 people,” he said. “It’s a great place to live, a great place to raise a family.”

Jefferson County, while still the largest county in the state with a population of 658,466, actually saw a population decline of 0.5 percent. The other three counties in the top five saw population increases, but Shelby County had the largest percentage increase.

Mobile’s population increased by 3.3 percent to 412,992; Madison’s population increased to 334,811, an increase of 21 percent; and Montgomery’s population increased by 2.6 percent to 229,363.