Houston on Top

Houston just keeps on growing: Population gain is fastest in the nation

Is there a reason for all that Houston traffic? Lots of new people are in town.

It's no wonder that traffic has gotten worse. The Houston metro area has experienced the highest population gain in the nation, according to the most recent numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Houston-Woodlands-Sugar Land area attracted 159,083 new residents from July 1, 2014 through July 1, 2015, bringing the total up to 6.6 million. With a 2.4 percent increase last year, Houston joins Austin and Orlando, Florida as the only three U.S. cities to rank in the top 20 for both overall population gain and growth rate.

Texas has added more new residents than any other state in the country, a whopping 490,000 new residents in that time, according to the report released Thursday. Together, the Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas-Fort Worth metro areas claimed more than 412,000 of those new Texans.

With a 3 percent population increase, Austin-Round Rock was the fastest-growing metro area in the state, and the seventh fastest in the nation. The area added 57,395 new residents — about 157 people per day. The population total is currently estimated at over 2 million, but the Austin region could reach 3 million people in just four short years.

A similar story played out in San Antonio-New Braunfels, which attracted another 51,285 residents. Combined, the Austin-San Antonio area added a total of 108,680 people. This massive influx of Central Texans adds to the speculation that the I-35 corridor could mimic the collision of our neighbors in North Texas.

The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington added 144,704 people from 2014 to 2015. A total population of 7.1 million means the Dallas-Fort Worth complex remains the most populous metro in Texas and fourth largest in the U.S.

Even Texas' tinier towns are seeing phenomenal population expansion. Three small metro areas were among the fastest growing in the nation: Midland (No. 4) and Odessa (No. 5) with a 3.3 percent increase, and College Station-Bryan (No. 15) with 2.6 percent. To give comparison, the No. 1 fastest growing metro area in the country is The Villages (a suburb of Orlando), which experienced a 4.3 percent increase in one year.

As we lead the country in population growth and gain, it seems everyone wants to be a Texan. But Texans also like their wide open spaces, so let's keep encouraging the masses to move to Orlando.

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that's baller

Houston hypes FIFA World Cup with new Guinness World Record

World Cup Guinness World Records soccer balls

Courtesy of Airbnb

DaMarcus Beasley, Bun B, and the Guinness World Records adjudicator.

Houstonians continue to show enthusiasm for the arrival of the FIFA World Cup this summer. On Saturday, April 11, local politicians, celebrities, and youth soccer players contributed to setting a new official Guinness World Record for the longest continuous line of soccer balls.

Held at Hermann Park, the effort lined up more than 1,000 soccer balls to set the new record. DaMarcus Beasley, the only American to play in four World Cups, and Houston hip-hop legend Bun B participated in the event. An official Guinness World Records judge was on hand to confirm the feat.

All of the more than 1,000 soccer balls used in the record-breaking event were donated to Grow the Game, a collaboration between the FIFA World Cup 2026 Houston Host Committee and the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority Foundation. The program aims to expand access to soccer for underserved youth across Houston through free and low-cost programming, including clinics, tournaments, and more.

“Today’s event is about more than breaking a world record, it’s about celebrating Houston and investing in its future,” Airbnb executive Laura Spanjian said in a statement. “As the world prepares to come to Houston for the FIFA World Cup 2026, we’re proud to support programs that ensure local communities, especially young people, can be part of that moment in a meaningful and lasting way.”

As Spanjian notes, Airbnb has committed more than $1 million to helping Houston get ready for the FIFA World Cup, which will feature seven matches between June 14 and July 4. These efforts include money for improvements along the Green Corridor, a 14-mile long path connecting multiple major landmarks in Houston through safe, walkable paths that include shade trees and other improvements.

Airbnb expects that Houston will welcome more than 31,000 visitors during the World Cup, generating an estimated $372 million economic impact, according to Deloitte.

Courtesy of Airbnb

DaMarcus Beasley, Bun B, and the Guinness World Records adjudicator.

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