The Fastest Growing City in the U.S.

By Brad Rollins at the San Marcos Mercury

San Marcos, TX is the fastest-growing large city in the United States, according to updated population estimates announced today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The city added 2,339 new residents — an increase of 4.91 percent — between July 2011 and July 2012, the bureau said,

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pushing its official population above 50,000 for the first time. South Jordan, Utah was the second fastest-growing with a 4.87 percent increase to 55,934.

San Marcos Mayor Daniel Guerrero said news that San Marcos’ population is well beyond booming does not come as a total surprise based on “the growth trends that we’ve seen over the last 10-15 years.”

“We knew San Marcos is a growing city. The population of Central Texas as a whole is booming and San Marcos happens to be in the center of all that action. So we ended up with the largest gains,” Guerrero said. “When you have that kind of proximity to Austin and San Antonio — and you’re three hours away from every major city in Texas — those are certainly big facets” in attracting new residents.

Texas State University is a leading factor in the city’s growth, the mayor said, as is the city’s and county’s aggressive drive over the last decade to update and expand roads and other infrastructure. In addition, he said, “San Marcos’ overall natural beauty is something that brings people in.”

Elsewhere in the Interstate 35 corridor, Austin moved from the 13th most populous city in the nation to the 11th with a population of 842,592, according to the new estimates. San Antonio grew to 1,382,951 residents and kept its spot as the seventh-largest city in the U.S.

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American Indians and Alaska Natives Map

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Very informative! I love maps..

Race Maps Of America

New York - The dots are so dense they almost cannot help but be separated - yet the Big Apple still has clear pockets of ethnicity.

These are the maps that show the racial breakdown of America’s biggest cities.

Using information from the latest U.S. census results, the maps show the extent to which America has blended together the races in the nation’s 40 largest cities.

With one dot equalling 25 people, digital cartographer Eric Fischer then colour-coded them based on race, with whites represented by pink, blacks by blue, Hispanic by orange, and Asians by green. Gray is other.

The resulting maps may not represent what many might expect Barack Obama’s integrated rainbow nation to look like, as many cities have clear racial dividing lines. (Click the name of each city to view its map.)

In New York, the boundaries are so intensely coloured that they can hardly avoid being integrated. While the different racial groups still have their own areas, it is one of the most diverse of the major urban cities.

Detroit, for example, is infamous for its divide between black and white. But the map shows such a clear separation along the Eight Mile beltway that it is startling - almost bordering on segregation.

The strict east-west divide in Washington DC is also well known - but chilling to see so starkly outlined on the map of the nation's capital.

And in Los Angeles, the Latino population dominates the poorer areas of the city.

But, reassuringly, the maps do show that not all American cities are so divided.



San Antonio: The Texan city blurs the lines better than most - though a divide can still be seen.

San Antonio in Texas paints a much better picture of integration, with whites and Hispanics blurring the boundaries and no real sign of a rich white enclave.

Another Texan city, Houston, also shows a richer diversity of races spreading out from the centre and Las Vegas boasts a good mix.

San Francisco also presents a better picture of racial integration together with a larger Asian contingent.

The maps have quickly become a source of fascination for bloggers, even though the data used is a decade out of date.

‘I’d love to see the income data presented this way, too,’ said one.

Good magazine's Andrew Price said: 'What do we, as a society, want to see in maps like this? I think it's safe to say that the clear separation of races in Detroit is a symptom (or cause) of serious social problems.

'At the same time,' he added, 'it seems unrealistic to expect perfect integration and it's unclear if we should want that anyway. It's great that our cities have vibrant ethnic neighbourhoods.'

The maps are based on information from the 2000 census, but Mr Fischer, 37, said in a blog on his Flickr site: ‘I intend to do a 2010 version as soon as the census finishes tabulating the data. I think the full release is planned for next June.’

He told the Washington Post: 'I always knew that cities had these racial divisions, but seeing them set out so graphically, that was the striking thing about them.'

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