Six of the 10 U.S. counties with the largest population gains this decade were in Texas, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s July 1, 2019, population estimates released this week.
Harris, Tarrant, Bexar, Dallas, Collin, and Travis counties saw the largest numeric gains since 2010, along with Maricopa County in Arizona, King County in Washington, Clark County in Nevada, and Riverside County in California.
Tarrant County is ranked fifth in growth over the past decade, expanding from 1,810,664 residents on April 1, 2010, to 2,102,515 on July 1, 2019. Those numbers represent an increase of 291,851 residents.
Among metropolitan areas, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington had the largest numeric growth since 2010, with an increase of 1,206,599 residents, or 19%.
“One interesting trend we have seen this decade is widespread population decline among smaller counties, while larger counties tended to have population growth,” Christine Hartley, a demographer in the Census Bureau’s Population Division, said. “Three out of four counties with a population of less than 10,000 in 2010 had even smaller populations in 2019. At the same time, three out of four counties of 50,000 or more were larger in 2019 compared to 2010.”
The pattern among larger counties is particularly evident in the West and South.
Vintage 2019 is the last series of population estimates to be released before the 2020 Decennial Census is completed.
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The 2020 Census is currently underway across the country, and data will be released beginning in December and continuing through 2021.
