Ripped from the ABJ headlines - Austin is still booming!

[Carolyn Lorence]

Link to this article from the Austin Business Journal: 

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/morning_call/2014/12/boomtown-austin-fastest-growing-big-city-in-texas.html?s=print

Boomtown: Austin fastest-growing big city in Texas, new Census data shows

Dec 4, 2014, 8:03am CST 

Michael Theis Digital Editor- Austin Business Journal             

Austin is the third-fastest growing big city in America since 2000, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The new data, from the 2013 five-year American Community Survey, shows Austin with an estimated population of 836,800. That's a 27.4 percent increase over the city's population of 656,562 recorded during the 2000 decennial census.

When ranked against 30 other cities with populations of 500,000 or more at the turn of the 21st century, only two other large cities – Fort Worth and Charlotte, North Carolina – grew their populations faster than Austin. Fort Worth tops the list, growing its population by 42.3 percent, from 534,694 to 761,092. Charlotte ranks No. 2 on the list, growing by 40 percent from 540,828 to 757,278.

Meanwhile, Central Texas' smaller cities also saw rapid growth. In fact, Pflugerville has grown its population at a staggering 206.8 percent since 2000, expanding from 16,335 to 50,127. That's the 10th-fastest population growth rate seen in that time for cities with populations of between 10,000 and 500,000, according to the data.

Here's how other Central Texas cities stacked up in population growth:

Schertz has grown by 80.5 percent, seeing its population boom from 18,694 to 33,758.

Georgetown has grown by 77 percent since 2000, with its population increasing from 28,339 to 50,380.

Round Rock grew by 70 percent from 61,136 to 104,070 between 2000-2013.

San Marcos, which the Census Bureau recently found was the fastest growing city in America between 2012-2013, grew at 39 percent, expanding its population from 34,733 to 48,291.

Here's how Texas' other major cities fared in population growth:

San Antonio ranks behind Austin at No. 4 on the list for large city growth. The Alamo City grew by 18.7 percent, its population expanding from 1,144,646 to 1,359,033.

El Paso ranks No. 5 on the list for large city growth, expanding its population by 17.2 percent to 660,795 from 563,662.

Houston ranked No. 14 with a 9.2 percent population gain, growing from 1,953,631 to 2,134,707.

Dallas' growth rate ranked No. 24 but saw only a 2.8 percent population increase since the turn of the century, expanding from 1,188,580 to 1,222,167 residents.

Michael Theis is the Austin Business Journal's digital editor.