In an aerial view, construction cranes dot the skyline on October 02, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

People love Florida. They just keep coming. Whether it’s the big metro areas, or smaller cities like Cape Coral, Fort Myers, or Naples, they keep coming. But it’s not just Florida. Some of the fastest growing cities are located out west, in Texas and Arizona.  Even Boise, Idaho is seeing some big gains as well. But let’s start with where people are leaving.

The Fastest-Declining Cities

Financebuzz created a metric to measure cities in decline. They analyzed data from 2019-2022 such as population change and unemployment rate. They also looked at personal income, new businesses, vacancies, home values. Plus another metric which can show a city in decline – percentage of the population that is in debt collections.

San Francisco is listed as the fastest declining city in the US. Even with the recent “homeless cleanup” that went down earlier this month, San Francisco can’t avoid that since 2019, according to Financebuzz, the city’s population has dropped by 8.29%. Home values are increasing below the national average, plus new home construction and new business openings are below average. New Orleans, and New York round out the top 3 US cities in decline.

Where are the Fastest Growing Cities located?

Topping the list for the fastest growing city in the US is a city with just over 200,000 people in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area. It’s Frisco, Texas. They can’t build houses fast enough there (which sounds very familiar to us in Florida). Over 2,200 new homes per 100,000 people were built there last year. An incredible amount considering just 3.5% of housing is vacant. Texas is booming, but if you’re really looking for a hotspot, 3 of the top 5 cities on this list are suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona.

The Fastest Growing Cities in Florida

  • Orlando

    Number 6 overall, Orlando’s population has gone up by 10% over the past 3 years. Plus, home values have increased 24% higher than the national average. The Lake Nona neighborhood of Orlando is one of the fastest growing communities in the country.

     

  • Port St. Lucie

    PCL has seen a population boom of 15% over the past few years. And construction is absolutely on fire with 2,385 new homes built per 100,000 people in 2022. This puts it at number 7 on this list. Port St. Lucie is on Florida’s East Coast about halfway between Orlando and Miami. Away from the big cities, but easily reachable. 

  • Miami

    Coming in at number 9, just behind Huntsville, Alabama, is Miami. And business is the tone for Miami. More than 28,000 new businesses opened per 100,000 people in 2022. Per capita income has also outpaced the nation – but it’s not enough. Miami is struggling with housing. Everything is getting so expensive. It’s hard to attract new talent when they can’t afford housing. If South Florida can’t solve this problem, many of the issues that plague California will begin to develop here. We’re ok – for now. 

     

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