More People Move to Houston in US

More people moved to the Houston, Texas area in one year than to any other metropolitan area in the United States.

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released information about the growth of America’s cities in 2015.

It noted that five metropolitan areas in Texas -- Midland, Odessa, Austin, College Station-Bryan and Houston -- are among the 20 fastest-growing areas in the country.

Texas gained almost a half-million new residents from July 2014 to July 2015. That is more than any other state.

Many people have also moved to Atlanta, Phoenix, New York and Los Angeles. The Census Bureau reported that Los Angeles County has more than 10 million people. It leads the nation’s 3,100 counties.

Metropolitan areas in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina are also growing fast.

Last year, the population of North Carolina increased by more than 100,000 people. It is now the ninth state with 10 million or more residents. Most of the growth took place in or near the cities of Raleigh and Charlotte.

North Carolina’s metropolitan areas attract people because they have many different kinds of jobs and large universities and research organizations.

Rebecca Tippett is the director of Carolina Demography at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Carolina Population Center. She told VOA that North Carolina has “everything from the mountains to the coast.” She moved there from Ohio. She says North Carolina is warmer.

The Villages, an area in Florida west of Orlando, was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States, and has been for the past three years.

The Villages grew 4.3 percent between 2014 and 2015. Five other metropolitan areas in Florida are among the top 20 fastest-growing areas in the country.

Stefan Rayer is a population specialist at the University of Florida. He told VOA that “young people generally move either for education or for a job, and Florida is one of the largest states in the country. It’s very attractive. It has big metropolitan areas, it has good job opportunities, so that’s why people are moving to Florida.”

About 275 million people lived in the country’s metropolitan areas in 2015. That is an increase of about 2.5 million from 2014.

I’m Christopher Jones-Cruise.

Dora Mekouar reported on this story for VOANews.com. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted her report for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

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