These Are The Fastest-Growing Communities In RI, New Data Shows

WOONSOCKET, RI — Woonsocket was the fastest growing city or town in Rhode Island from 2023 to 2024, according to a recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau that showed cities of all sizes saw at least modest growth during the period, and some saw explosive growth.

Princeton, Texas, definitely falls in the latter category. The suburb of Dallas experienced a remarkable 30.5 percent growth rate, according to the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2024 estimates. The year-over-year increases there increased the city’s headcount by nearly one-third in just one year, and the population has more than doubled since 2020.

Cities that increased their headcounts the most were New York City, Houston and Los Angeles, and some cities in the Northeast and Midwest saw their first population increases in recent years, according to the report.

The report underscores that America is a nation of small towns. About three-fourths of the nation’s 19,479 incorporated places, including 14,603 cities, have populations below 5,000.

By comparison, only 4.2 percent (817 cities) had populations of 50,000 or more, and 1.8 percent (342) cities had populations of 100,000 or more.

In Rhode Island, the five fastest-growing cities and towns in 2023-2024 were:

1. Woonsocket, 44,508 people, grew 2.15 percent
2. Glocester, 10,512 people, grew 2.05 percent
3. Lincoln, 23,507 people, grew 1.87 percent
4. Foster, 4,608 people, grew 1.52 percent
5. Burrillville, 16,794 people, grew 1.47 percent.

How The Northeast Fared Overall

Crystal Delbé, a statistician in the Census Bureau’s Population Division, said in a news release that some cities that had seen their populations decline saw recovery from 2023 to 2024.

“Cities in the Northeast that had experienced population declines in 2023 are now experiencing significant population growth, on average,” Delbé said. “In fact, cities of all sizes, in all regions, showed faster growth and larger gains than in 2023, except for small cities in the South, whose average population growth rate remained the same.”

Cities in the Northeast saw population increases after years of steady decline, with rates ranging from average growth of 0.1 percent in cities and towns with fewer than 5,000 people (a shift from the 0.3 percent average decline in 2023) to 1.0 percent average growth in cities with populations of 50,000 or more — five times higher than their growth rate during 2023, the report said.

Also from the report:

• Washington, D.C., added almost 15,000 residents in 2024, nearly doubling its population gain in 2023.
• Los Angeles, California, returned to the list of top gainers for the first time since 2016, adding more than 31,000 residents in 2024, making it third among the nation’s largest-gaining cities.
• Two cities crossed the 1 million-population threshold between 2023 and 2024 — Jacksonville, Florida (1,009,833), and Fort Worth, Texas (1,008,106).
• Twelve of the 15 cities with the largest numeric population gains between 2023 and 2024 were located in the South or the West, but the Northeast’s New York, N.Y., tops the list with an increase of 87,184 residents between 2023 and 2024. Rounding out the top five numeric gainers were: Houston, Texas (43,217); Los Angeles, California (31,276); San Antonio, Texas (23,945); and Fort Worth, Texas (23,442).
• Seven cities crossed the 100,000-population threshold, with five of them in the South: Deltona, Florida (100,513); Plantation, Florida (100,694); Sunrise, Florida (100,128); Georgetown, Texas (101,344); and San Angelo, Texas (100,159). The two others are in the West: Tracy, California (100,136), and Federal Way, Washington (100,252).
• Between 2023 and 2024, 22 cities and towns in 16 states crossed the 20,000-population threshold. Thirteen were in the South, four in the Midwest, three in the West, and two in the Northeast.

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