Cowboys saddle up in Fort Worth,Texas. (Photo by Reinhard Link via Flickr)
The fastest growing cities in the United States are not New York, Los Angeles or Chicago. In fact, growth in those cities — America’s three largest — appears to have peaked, according to new census data covering the period up until July 2014.
And they’re not alone. Seven of the 10 largest cities in America saw reduced growth in 2014, as did 53 of the 81 cities with more than 250,000 people.
So where are Americans going? Drawn by the allure of the Sun Belt, they are moving to Texas, the Southeast and the Mountain West.
The Sun Belt region stretches across the southern and southwestern portions of the U.S., from Florida to California, and generally includes the states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California. However, some people define the Sun Belt region as extending as far north as the cities of Denver, Raleigh-Durham, Memphis, Salt Lake City and San Francisco.
The Sun Belt has a high proportion of immigrants and mild winters make the region attractive to retirees. Other draws include plentiful, affordable housing, an overall perceived lower cost of living, and employment.
People move where the jobs are, says William Frey of the Brookings Institute, who adds that jobs are beginning to reemerge in Sun Belt states such as Texas, Florida, Arizona, Nevada and Georgia.
“Over the past several decades, the Sun Belt has shown much greater growth in terms of employment, which help to attract some from other parts of the U.S., as well as immigrants,” Frey said in an email.
Below are the six fastest-growing big cities in the United States, according to Frey.
Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas (Photo by Ed Schipul via Flickr.)
Orlando, Florida
Wall Street Plaza, Downtown Orlando, Florida (Photo by Jordi Gomara i Pérez via Flicker)
Durham, North Carolina
Durham, North Carolina (Photo by Doug Kerr via Flickr)
Henderson, Nevada
Lake Las Vegas, Henderson, Nevada (Photo by Robert Ciavarro via Flickr)
Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado (Photo by Cathy McCray via Flickr)
Fort Worth, Texas
Tarrant County Courthouse, Fort Worth, Texas (Photo by Ken Lund via Flickr)
The most important factor for future growth in allot of these areas is the availability of water and cheap power- i don’t see the future as you do- is see within the next 5-10 years migration of population back to the north and north east- plenty of fresh water and cheap power- Genesee Valley in NY State in the late 1800’s was the bread basket of this nation- with fresh water supply and thousands of acres of rich soil in this area is see allot
of crops diverted back to this area because of non availability of water. Niagara Falls in this area provides cheap power- i feel land speculators
the local government must have special programs to support this achievement form transportation ,education.health, jobs and housing.