Metro Areas Dominate National Population Growth

New Census data describes the country’s movement toward large metropolitan areas. Following the recent population growth in cities like Houston and New York, nearly one in three Americans reside in the country’s ten most populated cities.

March 31, 2014, 5am PDT | James Brasuell | @CasualBrasuell

“New Census data released Thursday further suggests that within the last year (from July 1, 2012, to July 1, 2013), virtually all of the country's population growth took place in metropolitan areas, with a significant chunk of it even further clustered in and around the largest cities,” according to a recent article by Emily Badger.

During that time, natural growth and migration added 2.3 million new residents to the country's metropolitan areas. As for rural America, “the population there dropped between 2012 and 2013 by 35,000 people,” adds Badger.

The article also includes a break down of which Metropolitan areas attracted the most new residents during the past year. Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth came in first and third on the list, respectively.

Badger also cites the analysis of William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution, who compares the country’s former trends of growth in smaller metropolitan areas, compared to these most recent growth statistics.

Full Story:

Metropolitan areas are now fueling virtually all of America’s population growth

Published on Thursday, March 27, 2014 in The Washington Post - Wonkblog