Fastest Growing U.S. Metros in 2025

Crowd of diverse people walking in a busy urban area on a sunny day, blurred in foreground.
Photo of Charlotte Wheeler, Real Estate Writer
by   Charlotte Wheeler
  Posted   April 2, 2026
  in   Apartment Demographics Data

The population of the U.S. expanded by 0.5% from July 1, 2024 to July 1, 2025, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Out of the nation’s 387 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas, 155 saw population growth rates above the national average last year.

Ten of the nation’s metro areas posted population growth of 2.4% or more from 2024 to 2025. All but one of those metros was in the South region, with Florida and the Carolina’s dominating the leaderboard. Ocala, FL, located north of the Orlando metro, recorded the nation’s fastest growth pace of 3.4%. Also recording growth of more than 3% was Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC, with a population gain of 3.2% from 2024 to 2025.

Table listing fastest growing U.S. metro areas by population change from 2024 to 2025.

St. George, UT was the only metro among the 10 fastest growing located outside of the South region. St. George, in southwest Utah, boarding Nevada and Arizona, saw its population grow by 2.6% from 2024 to 2025. Still, it’s a relatively small metro area with a population of 213,670 as of 2025.

Looking at numeric growth, all but one South region metro area ranked among the nation’s top 10 for population increases from 2024 to 2025. All four of Texas’ largest markets made the list. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX led the nation with a population increase of roughly 126,700 residents, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX with a gain of nearly 123,600 residents. Both those metro areas saw their populations increase at double the rate of the next largest increase in Atlanta (+61,953 residents).

Table listing metro areas with largest population increases, showing 2025 populations and annual changes.

The only metro area outside the South region with a big bump in population from 2024 to 2025 was Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA, which added nearly 43,100 new residents.

Based on total population in 2025, New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ continued to lead the nation. That metro’s population reached more than 20.1 million in 2025 after growing just 0.2% since 2024. Among the nation’s 10 largest metro areas as of 2025, only two saw population declines from 2024 to 2025. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, the nation’s second largest metro area, saw its population fall by 0.5% last year to roughly 12.8 million. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, the eighth largest metro area, posted a slight decline of 0.1%, with its population clocking in at nearly 6.4 million as of 2025.

Table listing the most populous U.S. metro areas with 2025 populations, annual changes, and previous year figures.

Among the 387 U.S. metro areas tracked by the U.S. Census Bureau, 310 saw population growth slow in 2025 compared to 2024 levels. Ten of the nation’s metro areas saw population growth slow by more than 1.2 percentage points. The three metro areas with the steepest percentage point declines in population growth rates were along the U.S.-Mexico border: Laredo, TX (from 3.2% between 2023 and 2024 to 0.2% from 2024 to 2025); Yuma, AZ (3.3% to 1.4%); and El Centro, CA (1.2% to -0.7%). Those shifts were largely due to lower levels of net international migration which declined nationwide. New York and Denver were the only large markets on this list to see a slowdown in population growth from 2024 to 2025.

Table showing metropolitan areas with steepest drop in population change from 2023 to 2025.

Tags