One could argue home prices are the best single metric for determining how great a place is — that whole supply and demand thing.
But, just like happiness, money can’t tell you everything about how great a place is. Instead, look at cities with people kicking down doors to get a chance to live there.
We are, of course, talking about the fastest growing cities in America. These hot pockets of demand that you better snatch up while still possible.
For reference, America’s annual population growth rate during this time period was .75% good for 4.5% overall, so anything over that grew really fast.
Looking at the most recently available Census data, here are the fastest growing big cities in America for 2018:
Well, I’ll be damned, look at that — Frisco is the fastest growing large city in America. It just so happens to be the richest city in America too.
In fact, it seems like people have been listening to our rankings as many of the best places in each state are in the top ten here.
So maybe that whole price of houses thing might eventually correlate with city growth as it seems to have done in Frisco. Guess I should have moved there instead of Durham 5 years ago.
To see exactly how we calculated these rankings, read on. Or if you’re not looking to move where all the cool kids are going, check out:
How We Determined The Fastest Growing Cities in The US
There are a couple of ways to measure how fast a city is growing:
- % Change Year Over Year
- % Change This Decade
- Absolute change in population
We went with open two for this analysis — how much have these cities grown since 2010 through the end of 2016 (The most recently available data from the American Community Survey).
We also limited the analysis to the 295 cities in America over 100,000 people — you know, because cities are big.
We looked at the percentage change in the population from 2010 until 2016 for each city using the classic formula:
((B – A) / A) * 100
We then ranked each city from largest change to smallest change. Frisco, the fastest growing city, had a 41.2% increase in population. Detroit actually had a population loss of 41.187%, good for the worst in America. I guess it just didn’t want to break double digits.
Here’s a look at the top ten fastest growing major cities in America for 2018.
1. Frisco, TX
Population 2016: 145,646
Population 2010: 103,158
Absolute Change: 42,488
Percent Change: 41.2%
More on Frisco: Photos | Rankings | Data
Proving the basic concepts of economics, Frisco shows that the fastest growing city in the US costs a bunch to live in also — it’s the richest city in the country according to our data.
In terms of population growth, 41% growth in a 6 year period comes out to a 5.89% compound annual growth rate. That’s about 8x faster than the US as a whole.
2. Kent, WA
Population 2016: 125,492
Population 2010: 89,446
Absolute Change: 36,046
Percent Change: 40.3%
More on Kent: Photos | Rankings | Data
Well, I’ve never heard of Kent until now, but apparently it’s a happening place on the west coast. With a popoulation increase of over 40%, it has to be pretty sweet.
That growth puts it at about 8x the US average too.
3. Mckinney, TX
Population 2016: 156,821
Population 2010: 118,652
Absolute Change: 38,169
Percent Change: 32.2%
More on Mckinney: Photos | Rankings | Data
There’s a pretty big drop between the 2nd and 3rd fastest growing cities as McKinney has ‘only’ had a 32% growth. That’s still good for 6.5x the American average.
4. New Orleans, LA
Population 2016: 382,922
Population 2010: 295,285
Absolute Change: 87,637
Percent Change: 29.7%
More on New Orleans: Photos | Rankings | Data
New Orleans is the largest city in the top ten by a wide margin.
Good food, jobs, and awesome things to do make New Orleans a great place to call home as its growth rate will attest.
5. Pearland, TX
Population 2016: 106,238
Population 2010: 82,748
Absolute Change: 23,490
Percent Change: 28.4%
More on Pearland: Photos | Rankings | Data
It’s at this point that you’ll begin to realize that Texas dominates the top ten. Pearland ranks as the fifth fastest growing large city in America and is the smallest in the top ten.
In fact, Pearland wouldn’t have even had enough people to qualify for the 100,000 person threshold in 2010 — it broke that mark for the first time in 2015.
6. Irvine, CA
Population 2016: 246,992
Population 2010: 199,117
Absolute Change: 47,875
Percent Change: 24.0%
More on Irvine: Photos | Rankings | Data
California makes an appearance for the first time with Irvine coming in at the 6th spot.
I would have expected more California cities on the list, but I guess population growth in earlier in the 2000s set the bar too high. Irvine added almost 48k people in this frame.
7. Surprise, AZ
Population 2016: 127,492
Population 2010: 103,767
Absolute Change: 23,725
Percent Change: 22.9%
More on Surprise: Photos | Rankings | Data
In a surprise to no living in Surprise, Surprise, AZ ranks as the 7th fastest growing city in America for 2018.
23% population growth is unsurprsing for one of Arizona’s up and coming cities.
8. Cary, NC
Population 2016: 155,822
Population 2010: 127,587
Absolute Change: 28,235
Percent Change: 22.1%
More on Cary: Photos | Rankings | Data
Apparently, if I had done my homework, I would have moved to Cary instead of Durham 5 years ago — it is showing up in basically every list we do this year.
Known in these parts as the Concentrated Area of Relocated Yankees, it had 22% growth over this stretch of time.
9. Round Rock, TX
Population 2016: 112,767
Population 2010: 93,092
Absolute Change: 19,675
Percent Change: 21.1%
More on Round Rock: Photos | Rankings | Data
Heading back to Texas, Round Rock rocks out in the ninth spot.
Along with Pearland, it only recently broke the 100k population threshold — 2012 to be exact.
10. Midland, TX
Population 2016: 128,051
Population 2010: 107,559
Absolute Change: 20,492
Percent Change: 19.1%
More on Midland: Photos | Rankings | Data
And concluding the top ten fastest growing cities in the US is Midland.
The first city with less than 20% growth, 19% is nothing to sneeze out.
There You Have It — The Fastest Growing Big Cities in America
After measuring the populations of every major city in America for both now and 2010, we are left with Frisco as the fastest growing city in the US.
My plan now? Go buy a home in a small city ranked like 20-30. I’m sure they are going to be getting much more popular in the years to come.
And for those playing at home, here’s a look at the slowest growing cities in America:
- Detroit
- Cleveland
- Toledo
For more reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In America
- Safest Cities By State
- These Are The 10 Cheapest Cities To Live In America
