Dallas' suburbs had some of the fastest growth in the country last year. Selina, the population increased by 26.6%, more than 53 times the country's growth rate of 0.5%. The city's population is 43,317 as of July 1, 2023.
Celina, which straddles Collin and Denton counties, tops the list of fastest-growing cities with a population of 20,000 or more, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Vintage 2023 Population Estimates released Thursday, May 16.
It's no wonder that a lot of cool new businesses and events have been relocating there recently.
The South continues to dominate the nation's growth, even as cities in the Northeast and Midwest are slightly recovering from years of population decline. According to Census estimates, 13 of the 15 fastest-growing cities in the United States are in the South, with eight in Texas alone.
The Texas cities that joined Celina on the Fastest Growing Cities list are:
- Fulshear (2nd place) increased by 25.6% (total population 42,616 people)
- Princeton (3rd place) 22.3% increase (total population 28,027)
- Anna (4th place) grew by 16.9% (total population 27,501)
- George Town (8th) 10.6% increase (total population 96,312)
- Prosperity (9th place) grew by 10.5% (total population 41,660 people)
- Forney (10th place) 10.4 percent growth (35,470 total population)
- Kyle (11th) 9% increase (62,548 total population)
texas trends
San Antonio had the largest growth spurt in the United States in terms of numbers last year. The Alamo City added about 22,000 residents. San Antonio's population is currently approximately 1.5 million, making it the seventh largest city in the United States and the second largest in Texas.
That population boom was followed by population booms in other Southern cities, including Fort Worth. Charlotte, North Carolina. Jacksonville, Florida. and Port St. Lucie, Florida.
Rapidly growing Fort Worth (978,000 people) has become the 12th most populous city in the United States, surpassing San Jose, California (970,000 people).
Meanwhile, the Austin area experienced a decline in population. Jacksonville, Florida (986,000 people) surpassed Austin (980,000 people), making the Texas capital the 11th largest city in the United States (just behind Fort Worth).
Population growth in Georgetown, a suburb of Austin, has slowed by more than a quarter in 2022, from 14.4% to 10.6%, according to the report. The same is true for the central Texas city of Kyle, whose population growth rate will decline by nearly 2% to 9% in 2023.
most populous city
New York City, with a population of approximately 8.3 million, remains the largest city in the United States as of July 1, 2023. Los Angeles was second with nearly 4 million people, Chicago was third with 2.7 million, and Houston was fourth with 2.3 million.
The 15 most populous cities in the United States in 2023 are:
- New York, New York (8.3 million people)
- Los Angeles, California (4 million people)
- Chicago, Illinois (2.7 million people)
- Houston, Texas (2.3 million people)
- Phoenix, Arizona (1.7 million people)
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1.6 million people)
- San Antonio (1.5 million people)
- San Diego, California (1.4 million people)
- Dallas (1.3 million people)
- Jacksonville, Florida (986,000)
- Austin (980,000)
- Fort Worth (978,000)
- San Jose (970,000)
- Columbus, Ohio (913,000)
- Charlotte, North Carolina (911,000)
Last year, large cities in the Northeast and Midwest saw a gradual reversal of population decline. Detroit, for example, experienced economic growth for the first time in decades, but had experienced a population exodus since the 1950s. But the population of Michigan's largest city grew by just 1,852 people, from 631,366 in 2022 to 633,218 last year, according to estimates released Thursday.
This is a milestone for Detroit. In the 1950s, the city had 1.8 million residents, but its population dwindled due to white suburban flight, the 1967 race riots, the migration of many black middle-class people to the suburbs, and a declining national economy. It foreshadowed the city's 2013 bankruptcy filing.
The three largest U.S. cities, which have been bleeding residents over the past decade, have somewhat stemmed the exodus. New York City has lost about 550,000 residents over the past decade, but lost just 77,000 residents last year, about three-fifths of the year before.
Los Angeles lost about 78,000 residents in the 2020s, but lost just 1,800 people last year. Chicago, where about 82,000 people have died over the past decade, lost just 8,200 people last year.
And while San Francisco has lost a larger percentage of its population (about 7.5%) than any other large city over the past decade, it actually grew by more than 1,200 residents last year.
