2020 Census Results: See How Much Montgomery County Grew

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TX — The 2020 U.S. Census released its final results Thursday, showing Montgomery County and Texas are growing much faster than the national average.

"We are excited to reach this milestone of delivering the first detailed statistics from the 2020 Census," acting Census Bureau Director Ron Jarmin said. "We appreciate the public's patience as Census Bureau staff worked diligently to process these data and ensure it meets our quality standards."

Between 2010 and 2020, the Texas population grew by 3.99 million people — around 15.9 percent — to 29.1 million. Texas grew by more than twice the rate of the national average as the United States experienced 7.4 percent growth between 2010 and 2020.

Montgomery County has grown even more rapidly with an increase of 164,697 people, a growth of 36.1 percent since 2010. Montgomery County, which is now home to 620,443 residents, was the eighth-fastest growing county in Texas since the 2010 Census.

The largest pockets of growth in Texas occurred in suburbs and metropolitan areas. The top 10 counties in terms of percent change in population were counties bordering the four major cities: Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

Hays County, which contains San Marcos, was the fastest-growing county in Texas over the last decade, experiencing 54.3 percent growth since 2010. Comal County (New Braunfels) was second at 48.9 percent growth, and Williamson County (Round Rock-Cedar Park-Georgetown) was third at 44.1 percent.

Most areas outside of the major metros actually experienced negative growth as 143 of of Texas's 254 counties had population growth of 0 percent or lower since 2010. Most of the panhandle, West Texas and Permian Basin saw their populations decrease, as did many counties in East Texas, particularly on the Louisiana border.

(Screenshot: U.S. Census Bureau)

The shrinking in those smaller counties and growth around the major cities mirror national trends, which showed metro areas outpacing rural ones in growth. The population of U.S. metros grew 9 percent from 2010 to 2020. By 2020, 86 percent of the country's population lived in metros, versus 85 percent a decade prior.

"Many counties within metro areas saw growth, especially those in the south and west. However, as we've been seeing in our annual population estimates, our nation is growing slower than it used to," said Marc Perry, a senior demographer at the Census Bureau. "This decline is evident at the local level where around 52% of the counties in the United States saw their 2020 Census populations decrease from their 2010 Census populations."

Here's a look at the growth of several Montgomery County cities:

Table: Patch. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.