Article
The 10 fastest growing cities in the country
The 10 fastest growing cities in America all have two things in common: available jobs and low costs of living.
That’s according to CNNMoney, which released its list of the 10 fastest growing cities in the country. Using data from the Census Bureau, the news agency found that from July 2012 to July 2013, the cities that saw the most growth were:
Austin, Texas
Population: 1.9 million
Percent gain: 2.6
New residents: 47,941
Man reasons for growth: Thriving university town, growing culture and startup scene with low unemployment rates
Houston
Population: 6.3 million
Percent gain: 2.2
New residents: 137,782
Main reason for growth: Oil jobs, growing port industry, affordable housing
Raleigh, N.C.
Population: 1.2 million
Percent gain: 2.2
New residents: 26,012
Main reasons for growth: Tech companies and university jobs, low unemployment rates and affordable housing
Orlando, Fla.
Population: 2.3 million
Percent gain: 2
New residents: 44,390
Main reasons for growth: Thriving tourism industry, growing modeling and simulation industry, affordable housing
San Antonio, Texas
Population: 2.3 million
Percent gain: 1.9
New residents: 43,056
Main reasons for growth: Oil jobs, diversified economy
Denver
Population: 2.7 million
Percent gain: 1.9 percent
New residents: 50,782
Main reasons for growth: High quality of life; mining, energy construction, business services, education and healthcare jobs; relatively affordable housing
Nashville, Tenn.
Population: 1.8 million
Percent gain 1.8 percent
New residents: 31,153
Main reasons for growth: Healthcare, start up jobs; reasonable costs of living
Charlotte, N.C.
Population: 2.3 million
Percent gain: 1.8
New residents: 40,368
Main reason for growth: Finance jobs
Oklahoma City, Okla.
Population: 1.3 million
Percent gain: 1.7
New residents: 22,280
Main reason for growth: Oil jobs
Phoenix
Population: 4.4 million
Percent gain: 1.6
New residents: 71,130
Reasons cited for growth: affordable housing prices after housing collapse recovery and increases in renewable energy, aerospace, biomedical and business service industries.
Many of the cities in Texas, and Oklahoma City as well, are experiencing oil booms as technological advancements allow extraction from oil fields previous inaccessible, CNNMoney reports. Other cities, such as Austin, Raleigh and Phoenix, all benefit from low costs of living and low unemployment rates, the Huffington Post notes.
_____________
To get connected and stay up-to-date with similar content from American City & County:
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Watch us on Youtube
I don’t know what continent
I don’t know what continent the authors of this report have been living on, but rental housing in Austin, Denver, Houston, and San Antonio is very expensive … and limited. I know because I lived in the Austin area and finally had to move out after I could no longer tolerate 10 – 20 % annual increases in the cost of my rental apartment (rent and fees went up, maintenance went down). Houston and San Antonio now have limited supply unless you want to go to the far out ‘burbs and it’s very expensive. Denver is equally bad. That’s why I’m aggressively looking in Phoenix where I could rent a 1,500 square foot house for about $1,100 a month.