Austin is poised to grow faster than any other large U.S. city in the next 25 years, nearly doubling in population.
That is according to new research by American City Business Journals, the parent company of the Austin Business Journal. The population of the Texas capital, which reached 2 million last year, is projected to soar 98.5 percent to nearly 4 million by 2040.
Across the country, the populations of 10 major U.S. metropolitan areas will skyrocket by more than 50 percent in the coming quarter-century, the projections show. Click on the slideshow with this story for a rundown of these exceptionally hot markets, followed by 10 metros where growth is likely to be especially slow. Then scroll down for details and a searchable national population projection database.
ACBJ has generated population projections for 933 metropolitan and micropolitan areas, based on raw data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. Click here for the full methodology.
ACBJ’s projections for each metro and micro have been posted at five-year intervals between 2015 and 2040, showing each area’s population and national rank, as well as its raw and percentage changes during each span. Click here to access the complete database.
The nation’s number of major markets, defined as metropolitan areas with populations above 1 million, is projected to grow from 53 in 2015 to 68 in 2040.
Austin is the hottest member of this group. Seven of its fellow Southern metros — three of them in Texas — are next on the list of major markets likely to experience rapid growth during the quarter-century: Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida (projected increase of 82.5 percent), Raleigh (71.9 percent), Orlando (67.7 percent), Houston (66.7 percent), San Antonio (57.3 percent), Dallas-Fort Worth (53.5 percent) and Charleston, South Carolina (53.4 percent).
The West makes its first appearance in ninth place, thanks to Denver’s anticipated 25-year growth rate of 52.4 percent. Then another Southern (and Texan) metro rounds out the top 10: McAllen-Edinburg at 51.3 percent.