North Texas Cities Lead Population Growth Trends: Celina Tops Fastest-Growing List Again
Celina has once again claimed the title of the fastest-growing city in the United States for its size, based on recent Census Bureau data. The city, located in Collin County, saw a remarkable 25% population increase from mid-2024 to mid-2025, reaching a total of 64,427 residents. Following closely behind Celina, other North Texas cities also experienced significant growth, with Princeton ranking fourth at 18%, Melissa at sixth with 14% growth, and Anna at eighth with a 10% increase.
This trend of rapid growth is not new for Celina, as the city previously held the top spot in the Census Bureau data for the 2022-23 period before slipping to fourth place in the previous year's release, overtaken by Princeton. These statistics highlight Collin County's continued appeal as a growth hub within the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, despite a general slowdown in population growth across the region.
Beyond Collin County, other cities in the North Texas area also saw notable growth according to the Census Bureau data. Forney in Kaufman County ranked twelfth with an estimated 8% increase in population from 2024 to 2025, while Greenville in Hunt County, northeast of Dallas, claimed the nineteenth spot with a 7% growth rate.
The annual release of city-specific population estimates in May complements the broader metropolitan data published by the Census Bureau in March, which revealed that the DFW area had the second-largest population growth among metropolitan areas in the country from July 2024 to July 2025. However, the overall growth rate of 1.4% in the region was lower than the previous year's 2.3% increase.
Despite a slight population decline of 0.1% in Dallas County in 2024-25 due to factors like high mortgage prices impacting domestic migration and tightened immigration restrictions affecting international migration, the northern suburbs continue to experience robust growth. The data underscores the ongoing appeal of North Texas as a desirable destination for residents seeking economic opportunities and a high quality of life.