2 of country's 10 fastest growing counties in NE Ga.

WASHINGTON - Northeast Georgia is home to two of the country's ten fastest-growing counties, according to new population estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Forsyth and Jackson both rank in the top 10, with increases between July 2006 and July 2007 of 7.2 and 6.7 percent, respectively. Forsyth ranks eighth nationally; Jackson is tenth. One other Georgia county made the list - Paulding, which is on the western fringe of Atlanta, and came in ninth. Its growth rate was also 6.7 percent.

Hall County came in at number 50 nationwide and is number 12 in the state. The rate of growth was 4.5 percent to 180,175.

Forsyth leads the state in population growth, Paulding is number two and Jackson is number three.

The population of Forsyth is now put at 148,307 - an increase of 10,607 in one year; Jackson's, 55,542 - up 3.712 for the period.

The Census Bureau list covers the 100 fastest-growing counties and several others in Georgia are on it: Barrow, Newton, Cherokee, Walton, Henry, Douglas, Bryan, Effingham, Dawson, Pickens, Coweta, Pike, Camden and Gwinnett.