Charted: Our massive growth
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Fort Worth is America's second fastest-growing city with more than 250,000 residents as of 2023, falling behind only Atlanta.
The big picture: North Texas is home to five of the 10 fastest-growing cities in the U.S. with populations of 20,000 or more, according to new Census Bureau data.
- Celina is the country's fastest-growing city with at least 20,000 residents. The Collin County city's population grew 26.6% between July 1, 2022, and July 1, 2023.
Why it matters: Some of America's fastest-growing places are not major cities themselves, but their outer suburbs.
Zoom in: Three of the other fastest-growing cities are also in Collin County: Princeton (22.3%), Anna (16.9%) and Prosper (10.5%).
- Forney, in Kaufman County, was the 10th fastest-growing city, with a 10.4% population increase.
Zoom out: Southern cities dominate the list of the fastest-growing big metros, with Texas and Florida accounting for eight of the top 20.
- Fort Worth, for example, grew by 2.23%, with 978,468 residents.
By the numbers: Fort Worth added the second most residents between 2022 and 2023, with 21,365 people. San Antonio topped the list with a numeric increase of 21,970.
- Celina, meanwhile, added the ninth most with 9,110 people. The once small town has more than doubled in size since 2020, ballooning from a population of 17,808 on July 1, 2020, to a population of 43,317 on July 1, 2023.
- Denton may not have made waves with its percentage increase, but the city added 7,914 residents, the 13th most in the country.
The bottom line: Dallas-Fort Worth continues to drive the massive population growth of Texas.