Fort Worth Almost Fastest Growing Big City In America

No, this is not one of our patented posts about something we see in west coast news sources we would never expect to see in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about something to do with Fort Worth. Or Texas.

Quite the contrary, this particular instance makes mention of both Fort Worth and Texas.

It was in this Friday morning's Seattle Times this Surprise! Seattle was the fastest-growing big U.S. city in 2020 article was found.

I would think multiple other big U.S. cities would be growing faster than Seattle, population-wise. Seattle is totally hemmed in, geographically, in every direction. Unlike other towns, like Fort Worth, with wide open spaces on which to build, or annex to the city, to make the town bigger geographically.

Where do all these new arrivals to Seattle find to live? I know one answer is tents set up alongside I-5, and other homeless encampments. Are the homeless Seattle newcomers counted in the census?

Three paragraphs from the Seattle Times article...

New data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that between July 1, 2019, and July 1, 2020, Seattle had a net gain of about 16,400 residents, hitting a total population of 769,700. That pencils out to a growth rate of 2.2% last year.

And that means that among the 50 biggest U.S. cities, Seattle is — are you sitting down? — No. 1 for growth in 2020.

What about all those Sunbelt cities that everyone has been flocking to during the pandemic? Sure, they’re growing fast, but they were behind Seattle. Fort Worth, Texas, ranks No. 2, followed by Mesa, Arizona; Austin; and Tampa.

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Well, there you go, Seattle is growing the fastest in the U.S., with Fort Worth growing the second fastest, and Austin, which is also in Texas, growing fourth fastest.

I am not too familiar with Austin. Is the capitol of Texas like Fort Worth? With wide open space to expand to? Or is it hemmed in, like Seattle? I have been to Mesa, Arizona. That town is like Fort Worth, with wide open space to expand to. I know zero about Tampa, other than the town is in Florida.

I saw no mention made this morning in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about Fort Worth being the second fastest growing town in America. Usually such news would have the Star-Telegram crowing that this news was making towns far and wide green with envy, with calls for a city wide celebration.

The self deprecating first two paragraphs in today's Seattle Times article are of the sort one would never read in the Star-Telegram, what with its tendency to ridiculous hyperbole over something not worthy of being hyperbolized.

Those first two Seattle Times paragraphs...

Throughout the pandemic, we’ve been reading stories about people fleeing big cities for the suburbs, smaller towns, and rural areas. And, of course, here in Seattle, a lot of folks have talked about our city dying.

Well, it turns out, to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of Seattle’s death are an exaggeration. Not only did Seattle keep growing in 2020, but it grew by a healthy amount.