The U.S. Census Bureau has released its 2018 population estimates and Jacksonville was found to be the 12th fastest growing city in the entire country. The River City is quickly nearing the million people mark at 903,889 residents as of July 1, 2018.
The latest census reports the South and West have the fastest-growing cities in the country. Among the 15 cities or towns with the largest population gains between 2017 and 2018, eight were in the South, six were in the West, and only one was in the Midwest.
Phoenix was the fastest growing city in the U.S. with an increase of 25,288 people. Meanwhile, Jacksonville was found to have had the second largest surge in population in the South between 2017 and 2018, with 12,153 more residents. Austin, Texas, took the No. 1 spot with just 351 people more than Jacksonville at 12,504 new residents.
The census also found that while 76% of the U.S. is made up of towns and only 4% are cities, urban areas contain nearly 39% of the entire country's population.
The nation’s housing stock also grew by 0.8% between 2017 and 2018, with Jacksonville as the No. 2 city in housing unit gains at 108,000 new residences in a year.
Overall, the River City earned 12th place out of the 15 most populous cities in the U.S and seventh place out the 15 cities with the largest numeric increase between July 1, 2017, and July 1, 2018.