POINT CLEAR — Recent census reports show that Baldwin County's growth rate continues to lead the rest of the state with the number of jobs increasing in addition to the population growth, said Lee Lawson, director of the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance.
Lawson spoke with members of the South Alabama Regional Planning Commission at the group's annual meeting in Point Clear.
Lawson said that as more people are free to work from home, more are choosing to come to areas like Baldwin County. He said the most recent Census figures confirm that Baldwin County's growth rate continues to lead the state.
"The numbers came out yesterday at the county level for the census, almost 7,000 people moving here in the last year," Lawson said. "I'm seeing a big uptick in what we believe is the trend of remote work, people being what we call geographic free agents. We're seeing a lot of that play out."
The number of jobs is also growing in Baldwin County, Lawson said. In the last year, two large projects, including the Aldi regional headquarters and Imperial Dade logistics hub began. Those projects will add a total of 1 million square feet of commercial development in Baldwin County.

"Within that growth, we're also seeing our job growth mirroring our population growth," Lawson said. "So, not only are we just seeing growth, but we're seeing job growth on the backside of that."
He said upcoming projects, including the new Mobile airport at Brookley and the deepening of the Mobile Bay ship channel are expected to bring more commercial growth to both sides of the bay.
"If you look at our region and you look at where we sit on the entire Gulf Coast corridor, we sit really right in between Tallahassee and New Orleans, right in between Jacksonville and Houston right in the dead center of the heart and with the investments that are happening not only in the port, but in the airport," Lawson said.
Much of Baldwin County's recent growth is coming from two different age groups.
"A big piece of our growth is in what I call the professional age range and in the near retirement age range, so we're pulling in two very different demographics that create economic opportunities," Lawson said.
Lawson said major projects to improve medical care, including a new USA Health center in Fairhope and the expansion of South Baldwin Regional Medical Center in Foley are also underway.
"We've got over $200 million in healthcare investment going on in our community, USA Health and what they're doing and South Baldwin Regional Medical Center in Foley is doing a $180 million replacement hospital in place right now, so we're seeing tremendous investment because of the demographic that we're tracking here," Lawson said.