Several Dallas-Fort Worth cities are among the fastest-growing in the country
FILE - View of the Dallas skyline through the Horseshoe highway built to upgrade the congested interchange in downtown Dallas, Texas, on July 21, 2020. (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)
DALLAS - The growing Texas economy led the state to once again dominate the list of fastest-growing areas in the country.
The census bureau estimates as of July 1, 2022 show Fort Worth had the largest increase over the year with more than 19,000 people added. The city is now the 13th largest in the country with about 956,000 people.
Dallas and Frisco had the 13th and 15th largest increases. Dallas added 8,833 people for a total population near 1.3 million people and Frisco added 8,506 for a population of 220,000.
The Denton County city of Little Elm was the 5th fastest growing in the country with an increase of 8% in one year. The population there is now just over 55,000.
The Dallas-Fort Worth metro area had the most significant increase in metro area populations across the country with 170,000 people added.
The DFW metroplex now has about 7.9 million residents and is the 4th largest metro area in the country behind only New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
US metros are growing, many reversing 2021 drops, census data shows
Many metro areas that lost population during the pandemic are growing again or saw smaller losses than the year before.
According to the Associated Press, during the first full year of the pandemic in 2021, more than half of the 20 largest U.S. metro areas lost residents, and all U.S. metro areas grew by just 0.1%, as fear of the virus sent residents fleeing the most densely-populated urban areas and the popularity of remote work allowed people to live far from their workplaces.
By comparison, only eight of the 20 largest metro areas decreased in 2022, and the growth rate for all U.S. metros was 0.4%.
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Among the largest U.S. metros that had gains in 2022 after experiencing losses in 2021 were Washington, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Seattle, Minneapolis and San Diego, according to 2022 population estimates released Thursday by the Census Bureau.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area grew the most among U.S. metros, jumping by six-digit figures for a second consecutive year.
Other metropolitan areas which saw the largest growth in number were Houston, adding more than 124,000 residents; Atlanta, with almost 79,000 new residents; Phoenix, with an additional nearly 73,000 people; and Orlando, Florida, adding almost 65,000 new residents.
There were other signs that 2021's pandemic-related migration changed a year later. Boise, Idaho and Provo, Utah — two metros that were popular destinations in 2021 for residents fleeing the West Coast's most populous cities — dropped out of the top 20 in population growth in 2022.
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The Lone Star State was also found to have one of the least percentages of high-school diploma holders in the country.
By that same token, smaller communities known as micropolitan statistical areas grew by 0.1% last year compared to 0.2% in 2021.
Metropolitan statistical areas consist of one or more counties containing a central city with a population of at least 50,000 residents that together have a high degree of economic and social connections. The central city in a micropolitan statistical area must have at least 10,000 residents but no more than 50,000 residents.
Population change is driven by migration, including within U.S. borders as people move around and internationally as people arrive from abroad. It is also dependent on a community's number of births and deaths.
Thursday's data release doesn’t show the reasons behind population changes, but similar data at the county level released in March showed it was mostly driven by international migration.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.