Metro Areas Dominate National Population Growth

“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.