These 25 Cities Have Grown the Most Since 2010

Home to University of North Texas, Denton is one of the fastest growing cities in the country. Its population has grown by more than 50,000 people between 2000 and 2018 — an increase of nearly 63%. To accommodate this growth, local governments have undertaken ambitious highway projects to combat traffic congestion along the roads connecting Denton County to the rest of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

The city in west Texas that is located between El Paso to the west and Fort Worth to the east has seen its population swell by 16% between 2010 and 2018, at least partially because of oil and petroleum. Odessa, like Midland, Texas, is located on the Permian Basin, a 75-000-square mile region that has petroleum and natural gas deposits. The jobless rate in Odessa is 2.5%, compared with the national unemployment rate of 3.5%.

Austin, the capital of Texas, has been growing steadily since 2000. Its population then was 656,000, increasing to 790,000 in 2010, and to 916,000 eight years later. Many of the newcomers are coming from other parts of the country attracted to a thriving job market. Some of the major companies with offices in Austin are IBM, Amazon, and Apple.

Murfreesboro, Tennessee, ranks among the fastest growing cities in America, and it seems that this trend will continue. The Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce projects that Murfreesboro will continue expanding its population at a rapid pace, growing to over 153,000 residents by 2024. The city was relatively small, at fewer than 69,000 residents in 2000, but it grew by more than 40,000 people in just a decade.

Located just north of Austin in the Texas Hill Country, Round Rock is one of just 10 cities that have grown by more than 90% since 2000. The Austin-Round Rock metro area has many positive economic indicators, like a low unemployment rate and relatively high median household income. It is home to campuses of several major tech corporations like Apple and IBM, which may help explain some of the population growth.