North Texas Has 5 of the 15 Fastest-Growing Small U.S. Cities

Nick Wooten
The Dallas Morning News
(TNS)

North Texas is home to five of the 15 fastest-growing cities in the country, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Of cities and towns with a population of at least 20,000 people, Celina topped the list with a 26.6% population increase in the 12 months between July 2022 and July 2023. Its growth rate was more than 53 times higher than the nation’s growth rate of 0.5%.

Other North Texas cities that scored a top spot include Princeton (22.3%), Anna (16.9%), Prosper (10.5%) and Forney (10.4%).

In total, Texas cities claimed eight of the 15 spots, including Georgetown and Kyle outside of Austin and Fulshear near Houston.

Four of the North Texas cities are in Collin County, which added the second-most residents in the country.

The bulk of its growth is domestic migration — people moving there from other places in the region, state and around the country. Celina’s proximity to historically fast-growing areas and the relocation of businesses to Dallas-Fort Worth’s northern markets has fueled the growth, said Lloyd Potter, state demographer at the Texas Demographic Center.

“We’ve seen in Collin County just this tremendous growth, really starting last decade or so with Plano and then kind of moving up into Frisco, and now in Celina,” he said.

The growth wasn’t limited to the North Texas’ suburbs. Fort Worth added more than 21,000 people, the second-most in the country behind only San Antonio.

Celina added just over 9,000 residents. Denton added more than 7,900 people, the 13th-most in the nation. Dallas added an estimated 5,510 people, a 0.42% increase during that period.

Other tiny cities in the region saw population jumps, too. Weston, in Collin County, more than doubled its population in 2023, jumping to an estimated 816 residents.

As the population booms, more housing units have come with it. Four North Texas counties were in the top 15 for overall housing unit growth.

Collin County added roughly 18,000 additional housing units, the fifth-most in the country. Tarrant (17,194), Denton (14,296), and Dallas (13,644) also earned spots.

The counties are hotspots for builders because of the proximity to jobs, said Don Dykstra, chairman of Bloomfield Homes. Bloomfield is one of the region’s largest homebuilders, and they have projects ongoing in high-growth suburban counties.

“At the end of the day, people want to live within a reasonable commute to their work,” he said.

The development is expected to continue as Kaufman County and areas like Princeton, Anna and Celina are among the most active submarkets for new home starts in the region, according to data from Dallas-based Residential Strategies, a market research company focused on Texas’ new home industry.

Kaufman County led all D-FW submarkets in annual home starts with 3,783 from April 2023 to March 2024, a 59.4% year-over-year change. Celina was not far behind with 3,127 new home starts, up roughly 70% annually.

“We expect to see continued growth in Celina over the next several years,” said Ted Wilson, principal of Residential Strategies. “There’s an awful lot of development that’s slated that hasn’t started yet, but it’s going to be coming.”

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