U.S Census Announced the Fastest Growing Cities in 2021

In a press-release announced Thursday, May 26th, by the U.S Census, populations of cities and towns in the South and West regions of the United States still experienced the most growth from July 2020 to July 2021, with the top 15 fastest-growing cities or towns located in these regions, according to new population estimates for cities and towns, released by the U.S. Census Bureau today.

Eight of the 15 fastest-growing large cities or towns by percent change were in the West — with five in Arizona — and seven in the South. The South and West also contained the top 15 cities with the largest numeric gains — 11 in the South and four in the West.

Arizona, Texas, Florida and Idaho all had several places among the 15 fastest-growing cities or towns:

• Georgetown, Texas, had the largest growth from July 2020 to July 2021, increasing by 10.5%, a rate of growth which would double the population in less than seven years.
• Georgetown was followed by Leander, Texas (10.1%); Queen Creek Town, Arizona (8.9%); Buckeye, Arizona (8.6%); and New Braunfels, Texas (8.3%).
• The sixth-fastest-growing area was Fort Myers, Florida (6.8%), followed by Casa Grande, Arizona (6.2%); Maricopa, Arizona (6.1%); North Port, Florida (5.5%); Spring Hill, Tennessee (5.4%); Goodyear, Arizona (5.4%); and Port St. Lucie, Florida (5.2%).
• Rounding out the list were three suburbs of Boise, Idaho: Meridian (5.2%), Caldwell (5.2%) and Nampa (5.0%).

  San Antonio, Texas, topped the list of the largest numeric gainers with an increase of 13,626 people between 2020 and 2021.

Following San Antonio were Phoenix, Arizona (13,224); Fort Worth, Texas (12,916); Port St. Lucie, Florida (10,771); North Las Vegas, Nevada (9,917); Cape Coral, Florida (8,220); Buckeye, Arizona (8,001); Frisco, Texas (7,933); New Braunfels, Texas (7,538); Georgetown, Texas (7,193); Meridian, Idaho (6,234); Leander, Texas (6,159); Fort Meyers, Florida (5,891); Denton, Texas (5,844); and McKinney, Texas (5,568).

Population milestones

• Seven places joined the list of cities with populations of 50,000 or more in 2021 with one addition located in the West, and the Midwest and the South each contributing three cities. The seven cities that passed the 50,000 population mark were Kyle, Texas (51,789); Burleson, Texas (51,618); Little Elm, Texas (51,042); Lincoln, California (50,649); Westfield, Indiana (50,630); Newark, Ohio (50,383); and Jeffersonville, Indiana (50,315).
• Six cities crossed the 100,000 population mark in 2021: Bend, Oregon (102,059); Goodyear, Arizona (101,733); Buckeye, Arizona (101,315); Fishers, Indiana (101,171); Carmel, Indiana (100,777); and Tuscaloosa, Alabama (100,618).

  
  Modest Housing Unit Growth in Nearly All States

   

  The nation’s housing stock grew by about 1.3 million units between July 2020 and July 2021, reaching a total of 142.2 million. The annual growth rate of 1.0% from 2020 to 2021 increased slightly from 0.8% in the 2019 to 2020 period.

• California had the largest number of housing units (14.5 million) on July 1, 2021, followed by Texas (11.9 million) and Florida (10.1 million). The states with the fewest housing units were Wyoming (274,400) and Alaska (327,900).
• Utah experienced the nation’s fastest growth in housing units, with an increase of 2.7 percent between July 1, 2020, and July 1, 2021, followed by Idaho (2.5%) and Texas (2.0%).
• The states with the slowest housing growth were Rhode Island (0.2%), Illinois (0.2%) and West Virginia (0.3%). The complete list is available at Percentage Change of Housing Units by State Map.
• The top five counties with the largest numeric gains in housing units between July 1, 2020, and July 1, 2021, were Harris County, Texas (34,132); Maricopa County, Arizona (29,935); Travis County, Texas (25,693); Los Angeles County, California (22,925); and Fort Bend County, Texas (14,230).
• The fastest-growing county was Rockwall County, Texas, which increased by 6.5% between July 1, 2020, and July 1, 2021, followed by Chambers County, Texas (5.7%); Jasper County, South Carolina (5.4%); Hays and Comal counties in Texas, and Morgan County, Georgia (5.2%) were tied for fourth fastest growing, followed by Fort Bend County (5.1%); and Long County, Georgia (5.0%).

On June 30, 2022, the Census Bureau will release estimates of the July 1, 2021, population by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin for the nation, states and counties, and population by age and sex for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico  and Puerto Rico municipios. The data will be embargoed (June 28, 2022).

With each new release of annual estimates, the entire time series of estimates is revised for all years back to the date of the last census. All previously published estimates (e.g., old vintages) are superseded and archived on the FTP2 site.