Market Snapshot: Texas Cities Dominate U.S. Urban Growth

Market Snapshot: Texas Cities Dominate U.S. Urban Growth

Weekly market intelligence for AE and environmental industry leaders.

According to data released last month by the U.S. Census Bureau, Texas cities continued to lead the nation in population growth between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025. 

The top five fastest-growing cities with populations of 20,000 or more were all located in Texas, with the Dallas suburb of Celina leading the country with a 24.6% increase followed by Fulshear, Princeton, Melissa, and Anna. While Charlotte, North Carolina, led all cities with the largest numeric population gain after adding more than 20,000 people, it was followed by the Texas cities of Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Celina. Houston, Fulshear, and McKinney were also in the top 10 of numeric growth. 

The data also showed that mid-sized cities (those with populations between 25,000 and 70,000) are bucking the widespread national population growth slowdown.

“Big-city growth slowed significantly between 2024 and 2025, with some major hubs even seeing small declines,” noted Matt Erickson, a statistician in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. “In contrast, mid-sized cities found a ‘Goldilocks zone’ where domestic and international migration, paired with new housing, helped prevent the sluggish growth seen in small towns and larger metropolitan centers.”

As evidence of mid-sized city growth, even though Charlotte gained the most residents of any city, by percentage it was only the seventh fastest-growing city in its own metropolitan area.