on the rise

This wealthy Houston neighbor is the fastest-growing suburb in America

Fulshear's population has exploded as much as 237 percent over the last five years.

City of Fulshear/Facebook

The Houston-area city of Fulshear has been keeping a secret from the rest of Texas: It's now the No. 1 fastest growing affluent suburb in the country.

Fulshear's new affluent status was unveiled in a new GoBankingRates' study that ranked the "30 Fastest-Growing Wealthy Suburbs in America" for 2025. The report examined population changes from 2018 to 2023 among cities and towns in major U.S. metro areas with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 residents. Median household income, average home value, and a "livability score" were also calculated for each locale.

Fulshear – which is located 34 miles west of downtown Houston – experienced the most dramatic population increase nationally out of all 30 cities in the report. Though the suburb only has an estimated population of 42,616 residents, that number has skyrocketed 237 percent during the five-year period.

A Fulshear resident's median income is $178,398 annually, and the average value of a home in the city comes out to $521,157, the report additionally found.

Fulshear was the second fastest growing city in America in 2023, and the city's growth is further reflected by the number of new apartments that were built in the area in 2024. One of Houston's most beloved Tex-Mex restaurants has already made the move to the suburb.

Texas cities took the top three fastest growing U.S. suburbs for 2025, with Dallas-area cities of Celina (No. 2) and Prosper (No. 3) experiencing wildly different (yet still sky high) population changes. Celina's population ballooned 190 percent to 43,317 residents, while Prosper's grew 81 percent to an estimated 41,660 people.

Other Texas cities that earned spots in the report include Flower Mound (No. 19), Southlake (No. 27), University Park (No. 28) and Colleyville (No. 29).

"The old adage that everything is bigger in Texas is true, considering the number of Lone Star State suburbs that are quickly growing in population and overall wealth," the report's author wrote.

The top 10 fastest-growing wealthy suburbs in America are:

No. 1 – Fulshear, Texas
No. 2 – Celina, Texas
No. 3 – Prosper, Texas
No. 4 – Erie, Colorado
No. 5 – Clarksburg, Maryland
No. 6 – Zionsville, Indiana
No. 7 – Redmond, Washington
No. 8 – Dublin, California
No. 9 – Parkland, Florida
No. 10 – Eastvale, California

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So hot right now

Houston nails down No. 8 spot among fastest-moving luxury home markets

TK Images for Martha Turner Sotheby's International Realty

11095 Memorial Drive is for sale for $8.8 million.

For-sale signs on the lawns of luxury homes in Houston-area communities like Bellaire, River Oaks, West University Place, and The Woodlands are disappearing faster than in most U.S. markets.

November’s Realtor.com Luxury Housing Report shows luxury homes in the Houston metro area spent a median 61 days on the market in November, up 3.4 percent from last November. That puts the Houston metro in eighth place among the country’s fastest-moving luxury home markets.

Asking prices for Houston-area listings among top-tier luxury homes started at $794,576 in November, according to the Realtor.com report.

The Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) says stepped-up activity in the luxury home market helped boost the average single-family home price in the area to $422,552 in November. The luxury market — homes priced at $1 million and above — was the region’s top-performing home category in November, according to HAR, with sales up 23.4 percent compared with the same time in 2024.

The Realtor.com report ranks San Jose, California, as the fastest-moving metro for luxury home sales in November. There, luxury homes spent a median 56 days on the market, down 6.7 percent from last November.

“Luxury home dynamics are increasingly driven by local factors rather than national trends,” Antony Smith, senior economist at Realtor.com, says in a release. “Some high-cost metros are experiencing brisk demand and fast turnover, while others face slower sales even at elevated price points. Understanding these local dynamics is key for both buyers and sellers in today's luxury market.”

Roughly 200 miles west of Houston, the San Antonio metro lands on Realtor.com’s list of the country’s slowest-moving markets for luxury homes. San Antonio-area luxury homes lingered on the market for 99 days in November, up seven percent from the same time last year. That gave San Antonio eighth place on the list of the country’s slowest-moving luxury home markets.

Asking prices for San Antonio-area listings among top-tier luxury homes started at $766,548 in November, according to the report.

In November, 5.6 percent of home prices fell into the $750,000-and-above category, according to the San Antonio Board of Realtors (SABOR).

Bend, Oregon, tops Realtor.com’s list of the slow-moving markets for luxury homes. In the Bend metro area, luxury homes were stuck on the market for a median 146 days in November, up 14.1 percent from the same period in 2024.

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