This story has been updated.
No signs of a slowdown here: Texas is still booming.
Counties in the Lone Star State continued to lead the nation in growth between July 2021 and July 2022, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Thursday.
Bexar County ranked 9th in numeric growth during that time period, adding almost 30,000 people, while Comal County ranked 9th on the list of counties in percentage growth.
County Judge Peter Sakai said he was delighted to see Bexar County ranked among the fastest-growing counties in the United States.
“People around the country are discovering what we’ve known for years: this is a great place to raise a family, receive a quality education, find affordable housing and earn a living,” he told the San Antonio Report.
Texas was home to six of the top 10 largest-gaining counties in 2022. It has now joined California as one of only two U.S. states with a population over 30 million, having gained an average of 412,958 residents annually between 2000 and 2022.
While some of the nation’s most populous counties experienced significant population declines in 2021, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, experts say, overall patterns of population growth are moving toward pre-pandemic rates for the nation’s 3,144 counties, Census data shows.
Population decline was never an issue for San Antonio; of the nation’s major U.S. cities, San Antonio saw the largest increase in population in the nation from 2020 to 2021 with a .9% growth rate that added 13,626 people from July 2020 to July 2021.
Between July 2021 and July 2022, Bexar County gained 28,635 new residents, to a population of 2,059,530, according to the new data. That’s an overall growth rate of 1.4.%
Newcomers to San Antonio are seeking economic opportunity and a higher quality of life, Mayor Ron Nirenberg told the San Antonio Report Thursday.
“We are working hard to ensure that our city will continue providing those attributes for them and all San Antonio residents,” he said. “The ongoing rapid growth demonstrates that our policies concentrating on housing affordability, workforce development and modernizing our transportation system are the approach we need to best position San Antonio for the future.”
Just north of San Antonio growth also continues to explode. Comal County, home of New Braunfels, Spring Branch and Bulverde, saw a 5.6% growth rate from July 2021 to July 2022. Comal gained 9,751 residents in total over that period, for a total population of 184,642 in 2022.
Comal was one of five Texas counties that made the nation’s list of top 10 fastest-growing counties. Also on the list was the Dallas area’s Kaufman County (8.9%), Rockwall County (5.7%), Parker County (5.6%), and the Houston area’s Chambers County (5.3%).
Overall, the population of Texas increased by 470,708 in 2022, continuing a steady uptick. From 2000 to 2022, the state gained 9,085,073 residents — more than any other state and almost 3 million more than Florida, the next largest-gaining state.
Unlike Florida, where growth stemmed mainly from domestic migration, which is when Americans move from one state to another, Texas experienced increases across all components of population change.
About half of the state’s population gain since 2000 resulted from natural increase (more births than deaths), 29% came from domestic migration gains and 22% was from international migration.
