Cedar Park grew by 4.5 percent in 2016, according to U.S. Census population estimates released today, ranking the city’s growth 12th nationally.
With an estimated population of 68,918, Cedar Park was the fifth fastest-growing city in Texas behind Conroe (No. 1), Frisco (No. 2), McKinney (No. 3) and Georgetown (No. 5). Round Rock (No. 18) and Pflugerville (No. 23) also made the top 25.
This is the first year in the past half-decade that a Central Texas city has not topped the list of fastest-growing U.S. cities. Prior to Georgetown’s top ranking in 2016, San Marcos was the country’s fastest-growing city for three years in a row.
Cedar Park has finished within the top 25 every year since 2012. Here is how Cedar Park’s population has grown during that time:
Joe Lanane’s career is rooted in community journalism, having worked for a variety of Midwest-area publications before landing south of the Mason-Dixon line in 2011 as the Stillwater News-Press news editor. He arrived at Community Impact Newspaper in 2012, gaining experience as editor of the company’s second-oldest publication in Leander/Cedar Park. He eventually became Central Austin editor, covering City Hall and the urban core of the city.
Lanane leveraged that experience to become Austin managing editor in 2016. He managed eight Central Texas editions from Georgetown to San Marcos. Working from company headquarters, Lanane also became heavily involved in enacting corporate-wide editorial improvements. In 2017, Lanane was promoted to executive editor, overseeing editorial operations throughout the company. The Illinois native received his bachelor’s degree from Western Illinois University and his journalism master’s degree from Ball State University.
