Fastest Growing US Cities

According to a news release from U.S. Census Bureau today, Port St.
Lucie, Fla., had the nation’s fastest growth rate among large cities
(100,000 or more population) between July 1, 2003, and July 1, 2004.
Located along the Atlantic coast between Cape Canaveral and West Palm
Beach, Port St. Lucie saw its population increase 12% during the period,
to 118,396. In fact Florida has 2 other cities in this list of the 10 fastest
growing cities: Cape Coral (ranking 5th) and Miramar city (8th).

California had 4 cities in the top 10: Elk Grove (2nd), Moreno Valley
(6th), Rancho Cucamonga (9th) and Roseville (10th). Two cities in Arizona
were in the top 10 — Gilbert (4th) and Chandler (7th) — and, relatively
nearby, North Las Vegas, Nev., was 3rd.

New York City continued to be the nation’s most populous city, with 8.1
million residents. This was more than twice the population of Los Angeles,
which ranked 2nd at 3.8 million.

San Francisco and Boston found themselves among the cities losing the
most people between April 2000 and July 2004. Boston, for example, shed
more than 19,000 people, or 3.4% of its population, while San Francisco lost
32,000, or 4.2%. Phoenix, AZ had the largest population increase between
2003 and 2004, adding 29,826 people.