We have fast-paced lives, we pay to get fast-tracked, we eat fast-food and we fast-forward on a film that bores us. Our lives are fast. We even have fast fashion; our clothes are fast these days from catwalk to high street. We have fast love too.
But, we are interested in nothing except fast growing economies, fast growth and fast-economics [7]. All for what? All for a fast buck!
Companies believe that ‘fast is faster’ and that ‘fast is the new strong’ and it definitely seems as if we are interested in nothing else. Fast seems to have given a damaging blow to everything that suffixingly adopted it and now it’s slow food that people want. People look for a slow life and they seek a pause in the fast rat-infested race that they were pushed into entering. That’s perhaps true for everything, everything but the economy still. Fast is still the new strong. Fast in economics is now the new slow.
The world according to the Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman has turned into a fast-paced world since the digital revolution destroyed our relationships with each other. Man became liquid. Society turned into liquid, flowing through life and unstoppable. Man lost his foundations and his concreteness. Man lost his solidity. We move from one job to another, flowing from one marriage to another, or swiping through lovers like we surf on the internet. Man has lost the solidity and replaced it with speed. Solidity was once the old strong. Today it’s speed that has replaced them all. We need fast growth if the rest of them are going to be chasing after us. Forbes carried out a study about the fastest growing cities in the US and here they are. We have taken a look at the reasons why these cities might be growing and the places to be. The fast cities!
Fastest Growing Cities
1. Houston, TX
The population growth of this city stood at 1.81% last year and the projected population growth rate is almost as high for this year at 1.74%. Jobs grew at a rate of 4.5% in 2014 and unemployment stands at 4.8%, well below the national average. The median income stands at $71,900 per annum. Houston has added more than 667,000 jobs over the past decade, primarily in the energy sector. It has the fastest job-growth rate in the country today. The median salary is the 4th highest in the country. There have been more than a thousand company relocations to Houston since 2009. Houston’s population has grown by 250,000 new residents that moved to the city in the last four years and another 250,000 that were born there.
2. Austin, TX
The population growth rate for 2014 stood at 2.52% and there is a projected-2015 growth rate that is almost the same at 2.51%. The job growth rate stands at 3.14% and the median income for this city stands at$63,500. Unemployment stands at 4.13%. This is the 2nd city in Texas and the 2nd on the top growth cities in the country. But, there are more to come. Half of the cities on the list are to be found in Texas, so they must be doing something right there. Or is it because oil production has doubled over a three-year period? The average age of people living here stands at 34.
3. Dallas, TX
Dallas has seen its population grow by 1.98% in the last year and it is projected to grow by over 2% in the coming year. It has a job growth rate that stands at 4.1% and a low unemployment rate of just 4.91%. The median salary stands at $67,500.
4. Raleigh, N.C.
Raleigh has a projected growth in its population which stands at 2.02% based on the 1.86% growth experienced in 2014. Jobs are growing at a rate of 3.54% per year and unemployment currently stands at just 4.83%. The median salary stands at $64,700. 91% of residents in this city have a high school degree or higher. 47% of the city’s residents have a university degree. There has been a 46% increase in population since 2000 and an increase of 94% since 1990.
5. Seattle, WA
Seattle’s population grew by 1.3% in 2014 ad is projected to increase by 1.3% this year. It has a growth rate for jobs at 3.56% and an unemployment rate that stands at 4.7%. The median income in the city stands at$72,000 per annum. This city jumped up six places to position number five this year in the rankings. Google [8]has announced plans to expand employment in the area and there are other big names such as Boeing [9] and Starbucks in the area.
6. Denver, CO
Denver has a population growth rate of 1.74% for 2014 and a projected forecast this year of 1.43%. Its job growth rate stands at 2.66% while unemployment in the city is at 4% only. The median salary stands at$64,300. Estimates project that there will be 7.7 million people resident in Colorado by 2040. Natural resources and construction saw a 5% increase in 2014 and healthcare service employed 4.1% more. Leisure and hospitality accounted for 3.6% of the growth in the job rate. The unemployment rate inn2014 was the lowest for 7 years.
7. San Francisco, CA
San Francisco saw its population grow by 0.93% last year and that will increase by more or less the same projected amount this year (0.95%). The growth rate stands at 3.52 for employment and unemployment is only 4.16%. The median salary stands at $81,700 per year. Nobody can deny that the tech industries have managed to inflate the median salaries of this city. Since 2011, San Francisco has added on another 76,000 jobs and the majority of them are in the tech industry but also in the health sector. Perhaps the low increase in population is a sign that housing is becoming too expensive and people are moving out to other areas.
8. Fort Worth, TX
This city’s population grew by 2.03% in 2014 and will grow by an estimated 2.1% this year. Jobs are growing at a rate of 2.64% and unemployment stand at 4.95%. The population grew here between 2000 and 2013 by42%.
9. Charlotte, N.C.
The population grew here by 1.93% in 2014 and will grow by a projected 1.98% this year. The job growth rate stands at 3.1% and unemployment is at 5.84%. Average median salaries stand at $61,500. 114,000 jobs were created in 2014 and the majority of hiring took place in the construction sector. It is expected that the city will add on another 76,000 job gains this year.
10. San Antonio, TX
The population grew by 1.89% in 2014 and will grow by an estimated 1.93% this year. The job market will see growth to the tune of 3.06% and unemployment stands at 4.56%. The average income is $58,300.
The Nike advert that coined the phrase ‘fast is the new strong’ tells you that “field just got shorter. The slow lose their lunch. The tortoise never wins. And if you’re not faster, someone will let you know.” For sure, if you’re not the new strong then you are bound to get told that you are going too slowly. The cities listed above are singled out as the epitome of what is quintessential American. The USA is the home of what’s fast. We invented it and now we want to make everything go as fast. Mark Zuckerberg [10] once said “move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough”.
Obviously, the economy has been moving so fast that there are cities that have got broken, perhaps irreparably. But, the only things we look at are the ones growing these days. Perhaps, when our country stops growing, because economies in China [11] and in India [12] will have moved so fast and broken us, perhaps then we will sit up and take the time to look around at the shattered pieces lying around us at our feet. Perhaps…
Originally posted: Fastest Growing Cities in the USA [13]
