Imagine your English class right now, about thirty-five to forty people, right? By 2050, your grandkids’ class could be composed of about sixty to seventy. This is due to the fact that Wake County’s expected growth rate is expected to jump about 72% by 2040.

As we have all noticed, there has been an increase in population in the Triangle for a few years now. Whether it has been new houses being built or a new kid in your class, we have all been affected by it in one way or another. In the last ten years in Apex, the population has jumped almost ten thousand. In 2010, the population was around 37,807 but then took a large jump in 2016 to 47,349. This puts the growth rate at about 26.34% from 2010 to 2016.

There are some pros and cons that go along with the population growing. One of the pros is that there is increased industrialization. This is positive because products can be made quicker and in a greater magnitude. However, this leads me to my first con, that if a city grows to quickly, that could lead to environmental issues. While the economic state of a city prospers with growth, it could also lead to congested streets and a rise in pollution levels. Not only that, but growth brings greater poverty levels due to more modern and new buildings being built that not everyone can afford. Even so, a pro for the environment could be that when people become more urbanized into an area; this allows for more open space. So while more people are living in one area (usually a city), this allows places like countrysides to be open for things like forest regeneration. Nonetheless, places like the Triangle are just getting more populated instead of everyone moving to one location. This could lead to a lot of trees being torn down, which could cause a large portion of animals to lose their homes and food supply, says www.nationalgeographic.com. So if you see a fox or two walking down Old Jenks Rd, don’t be too surprised!

Www.Forbes.com has named Wake County the fourth fastest growing area in America. I will leave it to you guys to decide if this influx of people in The triangle is a good thing, but it is happening no matter if people like it or not.