What do New Braunfels, Ankeny, Milpitas, Pflugerville, and Murfreesboro all have in common? Besides sounding like they would be right at home on a map detailing the Game of Thrones world of Westeros, they are also all on the list of the 15 fastest-growing cities and towns in the United States between July 1, 2014 and July 1, 2015.
Unless you live nearby one of the places on this list, there is a good chance you haven’t heard of any of these towns or villages before, but when you look at their locations in relation to major cities, it begins to make sense why they are growing so quickly.
For example, Georgetown, Texas, the fastest growing city on the list with a 7.8 percent growth during the time period, is just about 30 minutes outside of Austin, one of the biggest “It” cities in the country. New Braunfels, Texas, which took second place on the list with a growth of 6.6 percent, is located near San Antonio, another city whose population is swelling faster than a Lannister's ego. Mount Pleasant, S.C., follows this same pattern. The city, which is 10th on the list, is near the popular destination of Charleston.
Texas was home to five of the top 11 fastest-growing cities in the country, including three of the top four. As MarketWatch reports, this makes sense considering five of the eight cities that added the most people in sheer numbers were also in Texas, such as Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin. The reason so many people are flocking to The Lone Star State is due in large part to the affordable housing options and the large number of quality jobs.
The fastest-growing non-Texas city was Ankeny, Iowa, a city near Des Moines that grew 6.5 percent. Other non-Texas cities on the list were South Jordan, Utah, which is near Salt Lake City and saw growth of 6.0 percent, and Dublin and Milpitas, Calif., which saw growth rates of 5.5 percent and 5.3 percent respectively.
With the exception of Ankeny, every city on the list was located either in the West or the South.
To view the full list of the fastest-growing cities in the country, click the link below.
