Census Bureau also reveals slowing rate of housing stock growth
The South, and Texas in particular, dominated growth in population across America’s 15 largest cities in 2017.
Figures from the Census Bureau also show that the rate of growth in US housing stock has slipped below the levels of 2007.
“San Antonio, Texas, tops the list with the largest population gain with an increase of over 24,200 people – an average of 66 people per day between 2016 and 2017,” said Amel Toukabri, a demographer in the Population Division of the Census Bureau. “That’s a growth rate of 1.6%. This growth was enough to push San Antonio's population above the 1.5 million mark.”
There was also strong growth in the populations of Phoenix, Ariz. (24,000); Dallas, Texas (18,900); Fort Worth, Texas (18,700); Los Angeles, Calif. (18,600); Seattle, Washington (17,500); and Charlotte, N.C. (15,600).
In percentage terms, Frisco, Texas was the fastest-growing large city at 8.2%, making its growth rate more than 11 times faster than the nation’s growth rate of 0.7%.
While the data focuses on large cities (50,000 population or more), an estimated 205.0 million (62.9%) of the nation’s 325.7 million people live within an incorporated place as of July 1, 2017. And among approximately 19,500 incorporated places, about 76% had fewer than 5,000 people and nearly 50% had fewer than 1,000 people.
Housing stock lagging
The Census Bureau says that the nation’s housing stock grew by more than 1 million last year, reaching over 137 million units but the growth rate of 0.8% from 2016 to 2017 was slower than the 1.4% percent between 2006 and 2007.
The only states that increased housing stock by more in 2016-2017 than in 2006-2007 were: North Dakota (1% compared to 0.8%), District of Columbia (1.1% compared to 0.9%); South Dakota (1.4% compared to 1.2%); and Iowa (0.9% compared to 0.7%). Nebraska returned to the 2007 growth rate of 0.8%.
The fastest-growing states for housing stock growth from July 1, 2016 to July 1, 2017 were: Utah (2.1%); Idaho (1.7%) and Colorado (1.6%). West Virginia and Rhode Island were tied as the slowest-growing states with increases of 0.2%.
