Well, this explains rush hour.
Houston is the fourth most populous U.S. city, and saw the ninth largest numeric population gain of any U.S. city in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's latest findings.
From July 2021 to July 2022, Houston added 11,223 new residents, bringing its total population to 2,302,878. By comparison, San Antonio (population just under 1.5 million) is the seventh largest.
Harris County also led the way with the highest numeric gains for housing units in the nation, at 32,694, coinciding with recent reports deeming Houston the most active real estate market within the last decade.
Together, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land ranked No. 5 in the list of the 10 most populous U.S. metro areas (as opposed to the cities, themselves). Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ranked one place higher at No. 4.
Texas cities and towns dominated every list in the new Census Bureau report. "Texas was the only state that had more than three cities on both the 15 fastest-growing large cities and towns by numeric change and by percent change lists," the report says.
Fastest-growing cities
Six out of the 15 fastest-growing cities in the United States are in Texas, and with one Houston suburb – Conroe – landing at No. 11. Conroe had an 6.3 percent population increase from July 2021 to July 2022, bringing the city's total population just over 101,400.
The north Austin suburb of Georgetown had the highest growth rate in the nation, at 14.4 percent, bringing the city's total population to more than 86,500 residents. Surrounding Austin suburbs Kyle and Leander landed in No. 3 and No. 4 with the same population growth rate of 10.9 percent.
The not-so-little Dallas suburb Little Elm zoomed all the way up to No. 5 with an 8 percent population increase, bringing the city's total population to more than 55,300 residents. New Braunfels, which is outside San Antonio, came in at No. 13.
The top 15 fastest-growing large cities in the U.S. are:
- No. 1 – Georgetown, Texas
- No. 2 – Santa Cruz, California
- No. 3 – Kyle, Texas
- No. 4 – Leander, Texas
- No. 5 – Little Elm, Texas
- No. 6 – Westfield, Indiana
- No. 7 – Queen Creek, Arizona
- No. 8 – North Port, Florida
- No. 9 – Cape Coral, Florida
- No. 10 – Port St. Lucie, Florida
- No. 11 – Conroe, Texas
- No. 12 – Maricopa, Arizona
- No. 13 – New Braunfels, Texas
- No. 14 – Lehi, Utah
- No. 15 – Medford, Massachusetts
Largest population increases
When it comes to most populous cities overall, Texas takes five of the 15 top spots with Houston claiming No. 1 in the state. After Houston's No. 4 national rank with its population of over 2.3 million, San Antonio earned No. 7 with over 1.47 million residents, and Dallas at No. 9 with just under 1.3 million residents. Austin barely made it into the top 10 with over 974,000 residents, and Fort Worth ranked No. 13.
The top 15 most populous American cities are:
- No. 1 – New York City
- No. 2 – Los Angeles
- No. 3 – Chicago
- No. 4 – Houston
- No. 5 – Phoenix
- No. 6 – Philadelphia
- No. 7 – San Antonio, Texas
- No. 8 – San Diego, California
- No. 9 – Dallas
- No. 10 – Austin, Texas
- No. 11 - Jacksonville, Florida
- No. 12 - San Jose, California
- No. 13 - Fort Worth, Texas
- No. 14 - Columbus, Ohio
- No. 15 - Charlotte, North Carolina
Greatest housing growth
The report also discovered that housing inventory skyrocketed by 1.6 million units between 2021 and 2022. Texas had the third fastest housing growth with a rate of 2.3 percent, versus Utah, which had the fastest growth at 3.3 percent.
In addition to Harris County, the only other Texas county that made the top five for the highest housing growth was Travis (No. 3).
The full report can be found on census.gov.
