Two Houston-area suburbs, Atascocita and Conroe, have landed among the fastest-growing places in the United States, according to a recent analysis. With skyrocketing population growth, these areas are reshaping the economic and social landscape of the region.
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Atascocita and Conroe made it to the top of a national list of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S., which adds to the region's image as a population growth hotspot.
SmartAsset's 2024 study said that Atascocita was placed fifth. From 2022 to 2023, the city grew by an impressive 11%, adding about 12,000 new residents. A lot of people have moved there in the last five years—nearly 40% more than in Buckeye, Arizona.
Conroe, which is in Montgomery County, also grew a lot and came in ninth on the list. The number of people living in the city grew by 6.73 per cent last year and by almost 25 per cent in the last five years.
SmartAsset's head of economic analysis, Jaclyn DeJohn, talked about how population booms can have a lot of different effects. "Changes in a community's population can have many economic and social effects that are linked to each other. "The size of the population change can affect how much people want to buy things and use services, which can then affect prices or even the availability of these things," DeJohn said.
There are often growing pains that come with fast growth, such as more people needing infrastructure, schools, and homes. Pearland is another neighborhood in Brazoria County that is growing quickly. It has one of the highest effective property tax rates in the country, which could be a result of its fast growth.
Six small cities in Texas are on SmartAsset's list of the 20 fastest-growing cities in the country. Notably, New Braunfels, which is between Austin and San Antonio, grew by 12.49% in 2022–2023, making it the second fastest-growing city in the country.
The areas of Houston are growing quickly, but the city itself hasn't changed much. Fort Worth recently passed Austin to become the fourth-largest city in Texas, which shows how the state's population is changing.
As Houston's suburbs and exurbs continue to grow at rates that have never been seen before, they change not only the scenery but also the economic and social fabric of the area.
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