Per Culture Map: Austin is officially the fastest-growing large metro area in U.S., says Census Bureau

By John Egan

Mar 30, 2020, 9:16 am

All you’ve got to do is look at the traffic jams (well, not at the moment) and the construction cranes to realize the Austin metro area is booming. Now, the U.S. Census Bureau has released data demonstrating just how much the region grew in the past decade.

From 2010 to 2019, the Austin area ranked as the fastest-growing large metro area in the U.S., according to Census Bureau data figures published March 26. The area’s population shot up 29.8 percent during that period, landing at 2,227,083 as of July 1, 2019.

Put another way, the Austin area added 510,760 residents during the one-decade span. 

From 2018 to 2019 alone, the Austin area’s population rose 2.8 percent, the Census Bureau says. Numerically, the one-year increase was 61,586 (taking into account births, deaths, new arrivals to the area, and people moving away). That works out to 169 people per day.

Helping drive the Austin area’s population spike from 2010 to 2019 were two of the country’s fastest-growing counties. Hays County ranked as the second-fastest growing county in the U.S. (46.5 percent) in the past decade, the Census Bureau says, with Williamson County at No. 9 (39.8 percent).

In terms of numeric growth, Travis County ranked 10th in the country from 2010 to 2019 with the addition of 249,510 residents, according to the Census Bureau.

While Austin was the fastest-growing major metro area from 2010 to 2019, Dallas-Fort Worth topped the Census Bureau list for the biggest numeric gain. During that period, DFW welcomed 1,206,599 residents. To put that into perspective, that’s about the same number of people who live in the entire Salt Lake City metro area.

On July 1, 2019, DFW’s population stood at 7,573,136, up 19 percent from 2010. It remains the country’s fourth largest metro, behind New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

Houston nipped at DFW’s heels in terms of the numeric population gain from 2010 to 2019. In that time, the Houston area picked up 1,145,654 residents, the second highest total among U.S. metros. That’s around the number of people who live in the Buffalo, New York, metro area.

Houston stills holds the No. 5 position on the list of the largest U.S. metro areas. The bureau put its 2019 population at 7,066,141, up 19.4 percent from 2010.

Although the San Antonio metro area didn’t make the top 10 for percentage or numeric growth from 2010 to 2019, two of the region’s counties appeared among the 10 fastest-growing counties:

• Ranked at No. 4, Comal County’s population jumped 43.9 percent.
• Ranked at No. 5, Kendall County’s population rose 42.1 percent.

In the previous decade, the San Antonio area’s population climbed 19.1 percent, winding up at 2,550,960 in 2019, the Census Bureau says. Over the 10-year period, the region added 408,440 residents.