ever-expanding metro
Houston poised to hit this major population milestone in 5 years, new report says
A new population growth analysis predicts the Houston area could become the second fastest-growing large metro area in the country by 2028.
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land's total population in 2023 adds up to 7.3 million people, according to the study by Site Selection Group. With a projected population growth rate of 9.62 percent, that means Houston's population could balloon to more than 8 million residents in the next five years.
Houston is already set to become the second biggest metro area by the year 2100, so this latest report further strengthens the possibility of a population boom.
"Most population growth is occurring across the Sun Belt," the report's author says. "Specific to the large metro areas, eight of the top 10 growth markets are located within the Sun Belt [such as] Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas."
The report was used to discover the American metro areas that will have the most "favorable long-term labor conditions." Each metro area was categorized into one of three groups based on overall population size: large (over 1 million people), mid-size (between 500,000 and 999,999 people), and small (between 250,000 and 499,999 people).
"Although population growth does not guarantee success with hiring and retaining employees, it does provide validation that labor conditions could be trending in a more favorable direction," the report says.
Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington also landed at the top of the list for the predicted fastest growing large metro areas. Austin's population could climb to over 2.7 million residents with a 13.55 percent growth rate (the largest out of all metro areas), and Dallas-Fort Worth could expand 8.64 percent to nearly 8.5 million people by 2028.
The top 10 fastest-growing large metro areas by 2028 are:
- No. 1 – Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown
- No. 2 – Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land
- No. 3 – Nashville-Davidson-Murfeesboro-Franklin, Tennessee
- No. 4 – Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
- No. 5 – Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
- No. 6 – Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida
- No. 7 – Salt Lake City, Utah
- No. 8 – Charlotte-Concord-Castonia, North Carolina-South Carolina
- No. 9 – Jacksonville, Florida
- No. 10 – Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington
