8 of the nation’s fastest-growing cities are in Texas, census data shows

Fulshear, a 64,630-person city west of Houston, saw the second-fastest growth in the nation last year, at 21%.

Other Texas cities among the fastest-growing in the nation were:

• Princeton, a North Texas city that grew by 18.1% in 2025 to reach a population of 43,524
• Melissa, a North Texas city with a 14.5% growth rate and 29,969 residents
• Anna, a North Texas city that grew by 10.2% and had 35,245 residents
• Forney, a North Texas city with an 8.5% growth rate and 41,658 residents
• Hutto, a Central Texas city that grew by 7.9% to reach a population of 46,048
• Greenville, a Northeast Texas city with a 7.5% growth rate and a population of 37,069

Helen You, interim director of the Texas Demographic Center, said rapid population growth can be challenging for smaller cities.

“They're dealing with the strain on the infrastructure, how to create more schools, more classrooms, how to deal with water resources, how to deal with traffic and build more roads,” she told Community Impact during the TDC’s annual conference May 21 in Austin. “On the other hand, there will be communities in the next few years that will see a slowdown of growth, or even a decline.”

What’s happening

The trend of people moving to smaller cities in major metros “is not unique to Texas,” You said, noting that a higher cost of living and limited housing stock in Texas’ largest cities are “pushing people further and further out to other areas.”

“We recognize that lots of people actually don't live where they work—they’re actually living further and further away from where they work, and this is part of it, too,” You said. “Even though they're still in the [largest cities], working, commuting and doing shopping, they live further out because of housing availability and affordability.”

While Celina and other North Texas cities grew rapidly in 2025, Dallas lost about 1,800 residents, federal population records show.

Meanwhile, Austin surpassed 1 million residents for the first time in its history last year, gaining more than 4,000 residents since 2024, Community Impact reported.

Texas is home to five of the nation’s 15 most populous cities, according to the U.S. Census Bureau:

• Houston is the fourth-largest city in the U.S., with nearly 2.4 million residents as of July 2025
• San Antonio is the seventh-largest city, with about 1.5 million residents
• Dallas is the ninth-largest city, with roughly 1.3 million residents
• Fort Worth is the 10th-largest city, with just over 1 million residents
• Austin is the 12th-largest city, with about 1 million residents