The trendy Texas city of Fort Worth has bumped Austin from its rank as the fourth-largest city in the Lone Star State.
The state capital was knocked down a place, making it the fifth-largest city by population in the state, according to the Texas Demographic Center’s 2023 population estimates report.
The report showed population figures for Texas counties and communities for July 1, 2023, and January 1, 2024.
Austin was ranked below Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth.
The capital had a population estimation of 986,928, compared to 989,878 for Fort Worth, which saw a 7.7 percent increase from 2020 census data.
Not only did Fort Worth hold a higher estimated population, but it also saw a higher percentage of population growth compared to Texas’ largest communities, Chron reported.
Houston took the No. 1 spot with an estimated population of 2,318,657 people, up 0.6 percent compared to 2020.
San Antonio took second place with a 4.3 estimated population increase between 2020 and 2024; the report estimated the city to have 1,496,876 residents.
Third place was secured by Dallas, with an estimated population of 1,308,404 people, up 0.3 percent since 2020.
Once dubbed one of the most desirable cities in the US, Austin now seems to be losing its luster.
Moving company PODS released an annual moving trends report and found the city to have the fifth most move-outs in 2024.
The city saw the value of its houses drop 20 percent in November from its pandemic peak, according to Nick Gerli, CEO of real estate data platform Reventure App.
He said the number of homes for sale were increasing, as housing supply outweighed demand.
Gerli attributed a rise in homes for sale in Texas to homebuilders and investors beginning to ‘liquidate out of this market.’
In other words, they are beginning to sell as they are not earning money on homes due to high property taxes and stagnating rents.
‘Builders are needing to do big markdowns to sell houses, which is hurting the resale market,’ he added.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area began to see its population boom with an addition of more than 170,000 people between 2021 and 2022.
According to Axios, 265 businesses have located there since 2020.
Dallas and Fort Worth were the 9th and 13th largest cities in the country as of last year.
Not only was Dallas-Fort Worth the fastest expanding metro area in the country, but Fort Worth itself was the fastest growing city – adding 19,000 people between July 2021 and 2022.
Fort Worth has a reputation for being a destination for the oil and gas, aerospace and defense industries, whereas Dallas is considered a white-collar business hub specializing in financial services and real estate.