New numbers out today from the U.S. Census Bureau confirm something you’ve definitely known, noticed or complained about in the last eight years: Austin is growing.
But that growth isn’t confined to the Austin area.
The data put Texas counties and metro areas in the top 10 of all measures for population growth over the last year – and in the time since the last census, according to the numbers released today. Harris, Collin, Tarrant and Bexar counties were all in the top 10 counties that saw the largest population growth last year. Harris County added 605,000 people in 2018 — the most in the U.S.
Sandra Johnson, a demographer with the U.S. Census Bureau, says that’s been the case in Texas since 2010.
"What we're seeing in these estimates is consistent with the general trend of growth that we've been seeing in the South and the West this decade," she said. "So definitely the population of Texas is on the rise."
The Dallas and Houston metro areas led the nation in terms of numeric growth since 2010. Austin ranked ninth over that same time period.
Percentage-wise, the Austin-Round Rock area has grown more than any other Texas large metro area since 2010 — 26.3% — according to the Census Bureau.
The new estimates put the area’s 2018 population at more than 2,168,000 — a 3% increase in the last year. Much of that growth is from – you guessed it – people moving here from other parts of the U.S.
"What we saw was that 29,000 people moved into the [Austin] area from other parts of the country," Johnson said. "So, domestic migration was the largest contributor to the growth of Austin over the past year."
Births outnumbered deaths in the area by 16,000, she said.
Just down I-35, Hays County had the second-highest percentage increase since the last census – a 41% bump since 2010. And for 2018, if you look at how many more people lived in an area - the bureau notes Harris, Collin, Tarrant and Bexar counties were all in the top 10 for numeric growth.
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