WASHINGTON – According to the latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, Austin, Texas, and its surrounding area, is the nation's capital for population growth. The Census Bureau ranked the 10 fastest growing cities with populations of 50,000 or more during the year ending July 1, 2013, and Texas led the list with the most cities included: San Marcos, Cedar Park and Georgetown — each near Austin — ranked in the top 10 and San Marcos was number one in percent growth for the second consecutive year, with Austin itself gaining more people (nearly 21,000) than any city with fewer than 1 million residents.

Overall, the South and West dominated the list of fastest-growing municipalities between 2012 and 2013, claiming all of the top 15, seven of which were in Texas. Frisco and McKinney (near Dallas), Odessa (in West Texas) and Pearland (near Houston) were the other Texas cities on the list. Utah also had two of the top five cities: South Jordan and Lehi.

In terms of numeric growth, 13 of the 15 cities that added the most people between 2012 and 2013 were in the South or West, except for New York City, which ranked first in numeric population growth. The nation's largest city, New York, added 61,440 people in the year ending July 1, 2013. New York continued to be the nation's most populous city by a wide margin, with 8.4 million residents in 2013, followed by Los Angeles and Chicago. The list of the 15 most populous cities has remained unchanged since last year, aside from Indianapolis moving past Jacksonville to number 12.

The list of the top 15 numeric gainers was also bookended by another city outside the South or West: Columbus, Ohio, which gained 12,450 people. In between were five Texas cities (Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth) and three in California (Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose).

Census Bureau statistics cover all local governmental units, including incorporated places (like cities and towns), minor civil divisions (such as townships) and consolidated cities (government units for which the functions of an incorporated place and its parent county have merged).

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