Texas Cities of the Future — Austin and Fort Worth are Growing Faster Than Everyplace in the United States But One

Texas is booming. Time and time again, studies have shown just how much the Lone Star State is growing bigger and better. You can’t argue with the stats.

And now, a new study’s here to confirm what we know about everything being bigger in Texas. Two of the fastest growing cities in the entire country are in Texas — but they may not be the ones you’d expect.

A new analysis aptly titled “The Fastest-Growing U.S. Cities Aren’t What You Think” from CityLab  illustrates Texas’ explosive growth. Austin is the No. 2 Fastest Growing City in the entire United States, while Fort Worth is right behind it at an impressive No. 3, in terms of population growth.

Seattle takes the crown, and Miami, Denver, Charlotte, Omaha (Nebraska), Mesa (Arizona), Washington D.C. and Raleigh (North Carolina) round out the Top 10.

These surprising rankings were determined by a multiple factors including population growth, job growth, the growth in college graduates and the growth in the creative class — measured against economic inequality and housing affordability.

Austin earned its high standing because its population growth measured in at a whopping 12.8 percent from 2012-2017, while Fort Worth’s population grew by a beyond healthy 12 percent.

In this study, the researchers looked strictly at cities, not the broader metropolitan areas, because they figure urban revitalization and urban gentrification is most likely uneven across cities in America.

In their view, while cities make up big chunks of the surrounding metro regions, their performances aren’t always in sync. Certain cities could perform much better than the metro areas, and others, well, not so well. 

The researchers did a rough comparison between 50 cities and 51 of the country’s largest metros — leaving out Charlotte and Grand Rapids, because of their significant boundary changes. Consider this comparison for “illustrative purposes only.”

CityLab name-checks Houston as a sprawling Sunbelt city that did not make the list, though you might have anticipated it would, and notes that the top two, Seattle and Austin, are both expensive tech hubs anchored by leading research universities.

The publication shakes things up with its analysis of the fastest-growing cities in terms of job markets. There, Fort Worth comes in at No. 3 with a growth rate of 21.5 percent, beating out Austin at No. 6, with its 20.2 percent job growth from 2012 to 2017.

It’s safe to say Austin and Fort Worth are crushing it. Let’s hope Houston and Dallas don’t fall too far behind.