Census Data Reveals 2016 Population Winners and Losers

The U.S. Census today announced new population estimates. On the Census Bureau website, the headlining news from the new report was that ten of the 15 fastest growing cities in 2016 are located in the South.

Conroe, Texas (near Houston), was the fastest-growing large city (population of 50,000 or more) between 2015 and 2016 at 7.8 percent, making its growth rate more than 11 times the nation’s growth rate of 0.7 percent. Some of the other fastest-growing cities were: Frisco, Texas (6.2 percent); McKinney, Texas (5.9 percent); Greenville, S.C. (5.8 percent); and Georgetown, Texas (5.5 percent).

A few more of the big takeaways from the report, as presented by the Census Bureau's announcement, include:

• Columbus, Ohio passing Indianapolis to become the 14th most populous city in the country.
• Regional differences in population change of small towns: 1) Northeast small towns declined by 0.5 percent, 2) Midwest small towns declined by 0.3 percent, 3) Small towns in the South grew by 0.2 percent, and 4) Western small towns saw the largest growth with an increase of 0.8 percent.
• League City, Texas was the only city to cross the 100,000 population mark in 2016. Five cities (Aliso Viejo, California; Parker, Colorado; Logan, Utah; Cerritos, Colorado; and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) crossed the 50,000 mark.

Housing unit growth remains below pre-Recession levels in every state except North Dakota, Iowa, and the District of Columbia.

The Washington Post picked up the news, reporting on the national trends and focusing on the growth of suburban areas relative to cities. "In the tug of war between the suburbs and the city, the suburbs are once again on top, growing faster than cities for the first time since 2010," writes Tara Bahrampour in the lede of the article.

Mary Bowerman also reported on the country's fastest growing cities for USA Today.

Lyman Stone also wrote of how population estimates tend to be revised lower in cities where immigration is driving population growth. That tendency held true with today's release.  

Finally, many local media outlets picked up the news of the new population estimates all over the country. Here is a sample of local stories:

• Seattle once again nation’s fastest-growing big city; population exceeds 700,000 (The Seattle Times)
• Frisco, McKinney in battle for nation's fastest-growing city, but a Texas rival edges them out (The Dallas Morning News)
• Census Bureau says Cleveland's population slips to 385,809; North Ridgeville fastest growing city regionally (Cleveland.com)
• Suburban growth remains strong in central Ohio (The Columbus Dispatch)
• It's official: Charleston is now South Carolina's largest city; Greenville among fastest-growing in nation (The Post and Courier)
• Detroit's population still down, despite hopes (Detroit Free Press)
• Nashville overtakes Memphis as Tennessee's largest city (The Commercial Appeal)