South Fulton residents live in the 58th most populous county in the U.S.

According to statistics released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau, Fulton County had 818,322 residents as of July 1,2003. Fulton County has just under 1,000 more people than Dade County in Florida, and is closing in on Hamilton County in Ohio.

Fulton County remains the most populated county in the state, but many of its metro neighbors are growing faster. Fulton County actually lost just under 1,000 residents in its population from 2002.

Neighboring Coweta County passed a population milestone this week, as its population passed 100,000. The Census Bureau said Coweta gained just over 3,700 new residents in the last year. The county's population now stands at 101,395.

Census Bureau statistics also show that Gwinnett may soon overtake DeKalb as the state's second most populated county. DeKalb has 674,334 residents, while fast-growing Gwinnett has 673,345. Dekalb only gained 1,000 residents in the last year, while Gwinnett added almost 25,000 new residents.