New Data: The Fastest Growing Cities in the United States (2014-2015)
From the U.S. Census:
Georgetown, Texas, saw its population rise 7.8 percent between July 1, 2014, and July 1, 2015, making it the nation’s fastest-growing city with a population of 50,000 or more, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Georgetown is part of the Austin-Round Rock metro area, which crossed the 2 million population threshold in 2015 for the first time, according to statistics released earlier this year. This metro area is also home to Pflugerville, the nation’s 11th fastest-growing large city. Austin itself added more people over the period (19,000) than all but seven other U.S. cities.
Texas was home to five of the 11 fastest-growing cities (New Braunfels, Frisco and Pearland were the others), and five of the eight that added the most people (Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth and Dallas were the others).
New York remained the nation’s most populous city and gained 55,000 people during the year ending July 1, 2015, which is more than any other U.S. city. New York City consists of five boroughs, each of which is a separate county equivalent of New York State. The five boroughs are Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx and Staten Island. Queens (16,700), Brooklyn (16,000) and the Bronx (13,700) accounted for the bulk of New York’s growth.
Denver joined the list of the 20 most populous cities in the United States, moving up two spots to 19th. It displaced Detroit, which fell from 18th to 21st. In addition, Seattle moved up two spots to 18th. Denver and Seattle were both among the nation’s 11 top numerically gaining cities.
Among the 15 fastest-growing cities, the only one outside the South or West was Ankeny, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines. It grew by 6.5 percent, ranking third. Ankeny completed a special census on Dec. 10, 2014, that showed the population to be 54,598. The 2015 estimate puts the population at 56,764.
The statistics released today cover all local functioning governmental units, including incorporated places (like cities and towns), minor civil divisions (such as townships) and consolidated cities (government units for which the functions of an incorporated place and its parent county have merged).
Other highlights:
Seven cities crossed the 100,000 population threshold between 2014 and 2015: Hillsboro, Ore.; Vista, Calif.; Greeley, Colo.; Davie, Fla.; San Angelo, Texas; Jurupa Valley, Calif.; and Renton, Wash.
Seven cities crossed the 50,000 population mark for the first time between 2014 and 2015: Poway, Calif.; Bonita Springs, Fla.; Edina, Minn.; Galveston, Texas; Logan, Utah; Leesburg, Va.; and Olympia, Wash. Two cities dropped below this threshold: Troy, N.Y., and Charleston, W.Va.
Aside from New York, each of the 15 cities that gained the highest number of people between 2014 and 2015 were in the South or West. Three were in California (Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco).
Arlington, Texas, rejoined the list of the 50 most populous cities, displacing Cleveland.
Among the 50 largest cities in the country, there were several other cities that moved more than one position on the population ranking list since 2014. In addition to Denver and Seattle, Portland, Ore., rose two positons to 26th; Baltimore fell three positions to 29th; Colorado Springs moved up two positions to 40th; and Omaha, Neb., fell two positions to 43rd.
Last December, the Census Bureau released state population estimates that showed North Carolina crossed the 10 million population threshold for the first time. Contributing to the state reaching this milestone were Charlotte, which added nearly 18,000 people to make it the 10th largest numerical gainer in the country, and Raleigh added roughly 11,000 people to rank 18th. These two cities accounted for almost 28 percent of the state’s population growth.
California and Arizona each had two cities on the list of the 15 fastest growing.
Mount Pleasant, S.C., was the nation’s 10th fastest-growing city. Mount Pleasant is part of the Charleston-North Charleston metro area, one of the nation’s 20 fastest growing.
Of the 19,505 incorporated places in the United States, around 76 percent (14,804) had fewer than 5,000 people in 2015. Only about 3.9 percent (754) had populations of 50,000 or more.
Housing Units
Also released today were July 1, 2015, estimates of the number of housing units for the nation, states and counties. These estimates show that Texas gained more housing units than any other state between 2014 and 2015 (adding 162,000), with North Dakota experiencing the fastest rate of growth in the number of units (3.5 percent). Among counties with at least 2,000 housing units, McKenzie, N.D., added units at the fastest rate over the period, as the number rose 55.9 percent (from 3,760 to 5,862).
Table 1. The 15 Fastest-Growing Cities Between July 1, 2014, and July 1, 2015, With Populations of 50,000 or More on July 1, 2014 Rank Area Name State Name Percent Increase
2015 Total Population
1 Georgetown city Texas 7.8
63,716
2 New Braunfels city Texas 6.6
70,543
3 Ankeny city Iowa 6.5
56,764
4 Frisco city Texas 6.3
154,407
5 South Jordan city Utah 6.0
66,648
6 Dublin city California 5.5
57,721
7 Pearland city Texas 5.3
108,821
8 Milpitas city California 5.3
77,604
9 Broomfield city Colorado 5.2
65,065
10 Mount Pleasant town South Carolina 4.7
81,317
11 Pflugerville city Texas 4.5
57,122
12 Fort Myers city Florida 4.4
74,013
13 Murfreesboro city Tennessee 4.4
126,118
14 Goodyear city Arizona 4.3
79,003
15 Buckeye town Arizona 4.3
62,138
Table 2. The 15 Cities With the Largest Numeric Increase Between July 1, 2014, and July 1, 2015, With Populations of 50,000 or more on July 1, 2014 Rank Area Name State Name Numeric Increase
2015 Total Population
1 New York city New York 55,211
8,550,405
2 Houston city Texas 40,032
2,296,224
3 Los Angeles city California 34,943
3,971,883
4 San Antonio city Texas 29,536
1,469,845
5 Phoenix city Arizona 24,614
1,563,025
6 Fort Worth city Texas 19,894
833,319
7 Dallas city Texas 19,642
1,300,092
8 Austin city Texas 19,117
931,830
9 Denver city Colorado 18,582
682,545
10 Charlotte city North Carolina 17,695
827,097
11 Seattle city Washington 15,339
684,451
12 Jacksonville city Florida 13,069
868,031
13 San Diego city California 12,677
1,394,928
14 Washington city District of Columbia 12,392
672,228
15 San Francisco city California 12,279
864,816
Table 3. The 15 Most Populous Cities on July 1, 2015 Rank
Area Name
State Name
2015 Total Population
1 New York city New York 8,550,405
2 Los Angeles city California 3,971,883
3 Chicago city Illinois 2,720,546
4 Houston city Texas 2,296,224
5 Philadelphia city Pennsylvania 1,567,442
6 Phoenix city Arizona 1,563,025
7 San Antonio city Texas 1,469,845
8 San Diego city California 1,394,928
9 Dallas city Texas 1,300,092
10 San Jose city California 1,026,908
11 Austin city Texas 931,830
12 Jacksonville city Florida 868,031
13 San Francisco city California 864,816
14 Indianapolis city (balance) Indiana 853,173
15 Columbus city Ohio 850,106
Direct to Fastest Growing Cities Infographic (via U.S. Census)
Filed under: Data Files, News
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.