According to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Texas had the five fastest-growing cities with populations over 20,000 in 2025.
Celina, Texas, was America’s fastest-growing city, with its population increasing 24.6% from July 2024 to June 2025. The city had 64,427 residents as of mid-2025. In the 2020 Census, Celina had a population of just 16,739.
Fulshear, Princeton, Melissa and Anna—also in Texas—rounded out the top five.
Haines City, Florida, was the fastest-growing city outside Texas, ranking No. 6 nationally.
RELATED STORY | Census data reveals growing financial struggles for seniors, renters and rural Americans
Austin became the 12th U.S. city to surpass 1 million residents. It is also the fifth Texas city with more than 1 million residents, joining Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio.
No city in the United States added more residents last year than Charlotte, North Carolina, which gained more than 20,000 people.
The Census Bureau reported that population growth in major cities slowed considerably last year, with New York City losing more than 12,000 residents.
The agency cited two factors working against cities like New York: a decline in international migration and a preference for warmer climates.
“Big-city growth slowed significantly between 2024 and 2025, with some major hubs even seeing small declines,” said Matt Erickson, a statistician in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. “In contrast, midsized cities found a ‘Goldilocks zone’ where domestic and international migration, paired with new housing, helped prevent the sluggish growth seen in small towns and larger metropolitan centers.”
RELATED STORY | US population growth slows sharply as immigration declines under Trump
In 2024, cities with populations over 250,000 grew 0.9%. Last year, that number fell to 0.3%.
Small cities also saw slower growth. In 2024, cities with populations between 5,000 and 49,999 grew by 1%. Last year, that figure fell to 0.7%.
The latest data reflects yearly estimates while a full census is taken once a decade.
