These two Houston suburbs are among the fastest-growing places i

These two Houston suburbs are among the fastest-growing places in the U.S.
The growth of the Houston region continues to seem nearly inexorable, with two exurbs in the region appearing on a new list of the fastest-growing places in the United States. Atascocita, in northeast Harris County, was the fifth fastest-growing place in the country from 2022 to 2023, according to a new analysis from smart*****et, the personal finance website. The community - technically a "census-designated place" rather than a city - added about 12,000 people during the span, the study found, for a year-over-year growth rate of 11%. Over the past five years, Atascocita's population has ballooned by nearly 40%, second only to Buckeye, Ariz. Conroe, in Montgomery County, also made the top 10: It saw population growth of 6.73% from 2022 to 2023, the ninth-highest growth rate in the nation. Over the past five years, Conroe's population has grown by almost 25%. The 2024 study, released in November, used Census Bureau population estimates to rank 610 cities across the country. In the 2023 version of the study, smart*****et found that Atascocita had seen the nation's highest one-year growth rate in the previous year, and Sugar Land, in Fort Bend County, ranked six for growth over the preceding five-year period. "Population shifts in a community can bring about a variety of interwoven economic and social impacts," wrote Jaclyn DeJohn, director of economic analysis at smart*****et. "The magnitude of the population change can affect demand for businesses and services, which in turn may impact costs - or even the availability of such amenities." That can in turn affect property taxes. Another recent smart*****et study found that Pearland, a quickly growing community in Brazoria County, has one of the highest effective property tax rates in the country.Small cities in Texas are represented well on smart*****et's list of fastest-growing places, claiming six spots among the top 20. New Braunfels, between San Antonio and Austin, saw growth of 12.49% from 2022 to 2023, to rank second on the list.With all the population growth throughout Houston's suburbs and exurbs, growth in the city itself has remained relatively flat. However, the Austin American-Statesman reports that Fort Worth has now overtaken Austin as the fourth-largest city in the state, after Houston, San Antonio and Dallas, in that order.www.houstonchronicle .com/business/articl e/atascocita-conroe- houston-growth-
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