“Texas dominated” a new United States Census Bureau report that tracked population growth between April 1, 2010 (the date of the last full ten-year census) and July 1, 2011.

“These numbers provide further evidence of a continuation of the trend of rapid population growth in Texas we observed between the 2000 and 2010 censuses,” Census Bureau director Robert Groves said in a news release. 

The bureau said that “Texas dominated the list as a whole,” though New Orleans, which is still bouncing back from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, topped the list of “fastest-growing large cities.”

Number two was Round Rock, followed in quick succession by Austin, Plano, McKinney, Frisco, and Denton. Also in the top fifteen were McAllen (thirteen) and Carrollton (fourteen). 

“We have a relatively young population, which is increasingly Hispanic, and that population tends to have a higher birth rate,” state demographer Lloyd Potter told Steve Campbell of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Add migration to that, and you have why we are topping all these growth lists.”

Other statistics of note include:

  • Nine U.S. cities, including DeSoto and Cedar Park, topped 50,000 people since 2010.
  • Six Texas cities saw the largest growth by the numbers: Houston (number two), San Antonio (three), Austin (four), Dallas (six), Fort Worth (twelve), and El Paso (thirteen). 
  • Houston (three), San Antonio (seven), and Dallas (nine) remain among the ten most populous cities in the country.

But the big news on that last front was Austin, as Juan Castillo of the Austin American-Statesman wrote:

Austin grew by 3.8 percent to crack the 800,000 mark, at 820,611. Austin is now the nation’s 13th-largest city, up from No. 14 in 2010. It swapped spots with San Francisco.

Austin appears poised to catch two cities ahead of it on the list: Jacksonville, Fla., and Indianapolis, with populations of 827,908 and 827,609.

Michael E. Young of the Dallas Morning News also crunched some of the North Texas Metroplex numbers (link is paywalled), adding a note of skepticism:

In the Dallas area, the fastest growth rates remained in the suburban counties, with Collin and Rockwall counties growing by about 3.8 percent, and Denton by 3.6 percent. Both Tarrant and Dallas counties grew by more than 2 percent.

But those rates don’t come close to the stratospheric suburban growth seen in the last decade, when Denton County grew by 51 percent, Collin by 59 percent and Rockwall County by a staggering 81 percent.