According to a study conducted by Smart Asset, two Middle Tennessee suburbs are among 25 cities that have seen the most population growth in the past five years.
The populations of Murfreesboro and Clarksville have skyrocketed over the past half-decade, according to the study.
Since 2017, the population of Murfreesboro has grown from 136,372 to 162,402, an increase of 15.5 percent. Smart Asset says that is the 12th-largest population increase of any city in the United States.
Clarksville, meanwhile, has grown 11.6 percent, from a population of 153,210 in 2017 to a population of 176,977 in 2022. It is ranked 24th on the list of most rapidly growing cities in the United States.
Four of the top 20 most rapidly growing cities in the United States are in Arizona, three are in Texas, and two are in Florida, Nevada, and California, respectively.
Buckeye, Arizona, is America’s fastest-growing city and has grown an astonishing 48.1 percent in the past five years, from 68,431 to 105,567.
Smart Asset explained its study methodology:
This study examined the 344 U.S. cities that had a population of 100,000 or higher in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 1-Year American Community Survey. Cities were ranked by five-year population growth between 2022 and 2017. The population of men and women as a percentage of the whole was also examined. Population data includes people of all ages. Changes in population may be due to births, deaths or migrations.
Murfreesboro is a suburb about 30 miles from Nashville, which, as reported by The Tennessee Star earlier this week, was just ranked by Forbes as having America’s toughest commute.
“The [Forbes] study says it takes Nashville’s more than 452,000 workers an average of 29.6 minutes to get to work in the morning, while 2.2 percent of residents do not have a car,” The Star reported. “Nashville’s walkability score, how easy it is to commute by foot, is only 29 out of 100. Its public transit score, also ranked out of 100, is a lowly 22, while its bikeability score is 30.”
Clarksville is about 50 miles outside of Nashville.
The population of Tennessee grew 1.19 percent, from 6,714,748 to 7,051,339, between 2017 and 2022, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X / Twitter.
