Four Texas metro areas together added more people last year than any state in the country except for Texas as a whole, according to new U.S. Census Bureau.
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The population in these four metro areas increased by more than 400,000 people from July 1, 2014, to July 1, 2015.
The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro areas added about 159,000 and 145,000 residents, respectively — the largest gains of any metro areas in the nation.
Two additional Texas metro areas adjacent to each other - Austin-Round Rock and San Antonio-New Braunfels - were each also among the 16 nationwide to gain 50,000 or more people over the period.
Four Texas metro areas together added more people last year than any state in the country except for Texas as a whole, according to new U.S. Census Bureau population estimates. The population in these four metro areas increased by more than 400,000 people from July 1, 2014, to July 1, 2015.
The Villages, Fla., a metro area west of the Orlando metro area, was the nation's fastest-growing metro area for the third year in a row, as its population increased 4.3 percent between 2014 and 2015.
It was joined in the top 20 by five others in the Sunshine State: Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Punta Gorda, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford and Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island.
Houston, Austin and Orlando were the only three metro areas nationwide to be among both the 20 with the largest numeric gains and the 20 fastest growing (percentage gain) between 2014 and 2015.
North Dakota was home to each of the four fastest-growing counties (among those with populations of 10,000 or more in 2015) between 2014 and 2015. McKenzie (16.7 percent population growth) led, followed by Williams, Mountrail and Stark.
McKenzie passed the 10,000 person threshold in 2014 for the first time. However, eight of the 20 fastest-growing counties were in Texas, with three more in Florida and two in Utah.
State population estimates released in December revealed that North Carolina added more than 100,000 people during the last year to become the ninth state with 10 million or more people.
The growth to reach this milestone was, in large part, propelled by two metro areas partially or completely within the state: Raleigh, N.C., the 16th fastest-growing metro area in the U.S., and Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, N.C.-S.C., the 17th largest numeric-gaining metro area in the U.S. Together, these two metro areas grew by about 78,000 people.
Los Angeles, Calif., is still the nation's most populous county with 10.2 million people on July 1, 2015.
The nation's second-most populous county - Cook, Ill. - experienced its first population decline since 2007: 10,488 between 2014 and 2015 to 5.2 million. ■
A strong storm that originated over the Pacific has tracked through the Great Basin and is currently transitioning across the Rockies to redevelop across the central High Plains later today into early Saturday morning.