Austin area ranks as fastest-growing major Texas metro in 2025

2.6 million people called the Austin area home at last count

The Austin metro’s population grew at the fastest rate among the major Texas metros from 2024 to 2025.

The Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro’s population grew by 2.1% from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2025, according to an American City Business Journals Analysis of U.S. Census Bureau estimates. The region had an estimated 2.62 million residents in 2025, up from about 2.57 million residents the year prior.

The 2.1% figure is down from 2.7% between 2023 to 2024.

The Austin area was able to add residents in a variety of methods. Births outpaced deaths from 2024 to 2025. The Census estimates showed the metro had about 16,000 residents added through natural change, which accounts for the difference between births and deaths in an area. But the bulk of the growth came from people moving here. The region netted 37,500 residents through both international and domestic migration.

Population increases in the suburbs buoyed these numbers. Recently, Census numbers have shown Travis County and the city of Austin have seen growth stagnate due to affordability and housing availability. City-level data for 2025 is not yet available.

The Austin area’s 2.1% growth outpaced the other three main Texas metro areas. Houston’s resident base grew by 1.63%. Dallas’ population rose 1.48%. San Antonio’s population grew by 1.38%.

But while Central Texas is tops for percentage growth, other Texas metros are adding more people.

The five-county region that makes up the Austin metro ranked third among the major Texas metros in total number of new residents added. Austin added just under 54,000 residents between 2024 and 2025. Houston — which has a nine-county metro area — grew by about 127,000 residents during the same period. Dallas — counting 13 counties — added roughly 124,000 residents. San Antonio was the lone major Texas metro to finish behind Austin by that figure, as it added about 38,000 residents between 2024 and 2025. The San Antonio metro is spread over eight counties.

Among the biggest reasons for the decline in Austin’s overall growth rate from a year earlier was a decrease in the region’s international migration numbers. In 2024, the Austin metro added 28,000 residents through international migration. But in 2025, that number fell to 17,500.

It’s estimated that the Austin metro has added 337,500 residents since the 2020 Census. The biggest component of Austin’s growth since 2020 was domestic migration.

The metro added 153,000 residents through domestic migration since 2020, which accounted for 45.4% of the metro’s population growth over that time. The second biggest component of Austin’s population growth since 2020 was international migration, through which the region added 103,000 residents. Natural change added about 81,000 residents since 2020, accounting for 24% of the growth over that time period.