The black population in the Atlanta area rapidly suburbanized in the 1990s and 2000s. From 2000 to 2010, the city of Atlantas black population shrunk by 31,678 people, dropping from 61.4% to 54.0% of the population. While blacks exited the city and DeKalb County, the black population increased sharply in other areas of Metro Atlanta by 93.1%. During the same period, the proportion of whites in the citys population grew dramatically - faster than that of any other major U.S. city between 2000-2006. Between 2000 and 2010, Atlanta added 22,763 whites, and the white proportion of the population increased from 31% to 38%. By 2009, a white mayoral candidate, Mary Norwood, lost by just 714 votes (out of over 84,000 cast) to Kasim Reed. This represented a historic change from the perception until that time that Atlanta was "guaranteed" to elect a black mayor. However, other areas, like Marietta and Alpharetta, are seeing similar demographic changes with huge increases of middle and upper income blacks and Asians—mostly former residents of Atlanta.. How many years was the time span where the proportion of whites in the city's population grew dramatically, faster then any other major city in the U.S.?