Fastest Growing U.S. Cities, 2007 to 2008

What do Round Rock, Texas (pictured) and New Orleans have in common? They virtually tied for the largest percentage population increase of U.S. cities (8.2%) from July 1, 2007 to July 1 2008.

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As of July 1, 2008, the population of New Orleans was 311,853, up from 210,768 in 2006 following Hurricane Katrina. The pre-hurricane population was 484,674 (based on the 2000 Census). Round Rock (pop. 92,557) won the Comprehensive Planning Award from the Texas Chapter of the American Planning Association in 1999 and prides itself on its long-term vision. Four of the 10 fastest-growing large cities, percentage wise, were in the Lone Star state, while North Carolina and California both had two cities in the top 10 (see Table 1).

Table 1?EUR??,,????'?????< July 1, 2007 to July 1, 2008

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Other Highlights: 2007-2008 Change

New to the list of the 25 most populous cities in 2008 was Denver, 24th, with a population of 598,707. Dallas moved up to eighth place, San Francisco to 12th, Austin to 15th, Charlotte, N.C., to 18th and Boston to 22nd. Nashville-Davidson, Tenn. (a city-county consolidation) fell out of the top 25. Among the nine cities making both lists of the 25 largest numerical gainers and the 25 fastest-growing from 2007 to 2008, more than half were in either North Carolina (Raleigh, Charlotte and Cary) or Colorado (Denver and Aurora). Rounding out the list were Fort Worth, New Orleans, Atlanta and Gilbert. Seven of the largest numerical gainers were on the West Coast.

Table 2?EUR??,,????'?????< July 1, 2007 to July 1, 2008

For more information about the geographic areas for which the Census Bureau produces population estimates, see http://www.census.gov/popest/geographic.