People magnet
Houston and lush neighbor see dramatic population growth in new Census
Locals may know it for its lush woods and lake, but Conroe has more bragging rights. According to data released May 21 by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that among U.S. cities with at least 50,000 residents, Conroe was ranked the ninth-fasting growing city.
Conroe's population jumped by 39.3 percent; the city boasted a July 2019 population of 91,079.
The Lone Star State looms large in the survey. Frisco, Texas reigns as the fastest-growing place. Its population jumped 71.1 percent from April 2010 to July 2019, the Census Bureau says. As of July 1, 2019, Frisco’s population stood at 200,490.
In 2018, Money magazine crowned Frisco as America’s best place to live.
Four other Texas cities made the Census Bureau’s list:
- New Braunfels (San Antonio), No. 3 — 56.1 percent growth, July 2019 population of 90,209
- McKinney (DFW), No. 4 — 51.9 percent growth, July 2019 population of 199,177
- Cedar Park (Austin), No. 7 — 44.2 percent growth, July 2019 population of 79,462
- Round Rock (Austin), No. 13 — 33.3 percent growth, July 2019 population of 133,372
In terms of numeric change in population, Houston, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio collectively increased their population by nearly 933,600 people from 2010 to 2019, according to the Census Bureau. All five cities were among the 15 U.S. cities with the biggest numeric rise in population during the past decade:
- Houston, No. 2 — 224,751
- San Antonio, No. 3 — 221,092
- Austin, No. 5 — 177,079
- Fort Worth, No. 6 — 164,761
- Dallas, No. 9 — 145,915
From 2018 to 2019 alone, Leander (Austin) ranked as the fastest-growing large city in the U.S., posting a 12 percent uptick in population. As for numeric change in 2018-19, San Antonio ranked second (17,237), followed by Austin (16,439) at No. 3 and Fort Worth (16,369) at No. 4.
In 2019, two Texas cities crossed the 50,000-person threshold for population, according to the Census Bureau: the DFW suburb of Little Elm (53,126) and the Houston suburb of Texas City (50,094).