Statistics: 50 Fastest-Growing Metro Areas Concentrated in West and South

According to population estimates released today for all metro areas by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Atlanta metro area gained 890,000 residents from April 1, 2000, to July 1, 2006, the largest numerical gain of the nation’s 361 metro areas.

This Georgia metro area (Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta) was the nation’s ninth largest as of July 1, 2006 with a population of 5.1 million. Overall, six metro areas each gained at least 500,000 people between 2000 and 2006.

Dallas-Fort Worth had the second largest numeric increase at 842,000, and totaled about 6 million people. Houston (with an increase of 825,000), Phoenix (787,000) and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. (771,000) rounded out the top five metro area gainers over the time period. The five metro areas experiencing the greatest numeric change between 2000 and 2006 were in the South or West.

10 U.S. Metro Areas With Highest Numerical Growth: April 1, 2000-July 1, 2006
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif.
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif.
New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa.
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va.
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, Fla.
Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.-Ind.-Wis.

See Also: Tables (XLS)

Source: U.S. Census

This entry was posted on Friday, April 6th, 2007 and is filed under Lists and Rankings, Source File. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.