Houston-area counties atop list of fastest growing in United States

Texas continues leading the way in terms of population growth, as people are fleeing Democrat run states for greener pastures in Republican run states. The Lone Star State always has one major city on top of lists for fastest growth, and this year, Houston was that city.

Harris County, specifically, saw a growth in population by 105,000 people from July 2023 to July 2024, which was more than any county nationally. Meantime, both Liberty and Montgomery Counties were listed as the sixth and seventh fastest growing counties, respectively, according to the Census Bureau.

Chuck DeVore of the Texas Public Policy Foundation says this is a continuation of a trend.

"All you are seeing is the result of Texas' diverse economy, and different regions that have different strengths, and they kind of rotate among each other," he says.

Austin has been atop the same list in years past, as well as Dallas. In fact, the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro area grew at the second fastest pace nationally, outpaced by only the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro. Everyone gets a turn carrying the torch.

There are other implications though to this massive growth. This has impacts both economically, and politically.

Politically, the 2030 Census is coming in five years' time, which is also when you go through the shuffling of Congressional seats. This influx of blue state folks moving to red state strongholds will give Texas even more of a foothold.

"What you will see in the upcoming census is a pretty massive shift of about ten to twelve seats from blue areas, losing population, into red areas, which are gaining population," says DeVore.

Economically, Texas is still at the forefront, and still in a very good spot. We have business friendly, and family friendly policies that help spark growth, and bring businesses to our state.

But we do still have some challenges that need to be addressed in order to fully flourish.

"You will see more surpluses that legislators will use to fund priorities like reducing property taxes, which can be quite burdensome in Texas, because we still have not found ways to reduce spending at the local level," DeVore says.

As for the state that led the nation in population growth? You guessed it: The Lone Star State.