Waterloo is Iowa’s Fastest Growing City

Compared to the fastest growing cities in the U.S., Iowa cities are lagging. Waterloo is the fastest growing Iowa city, according to this new analysis. 

With the economy steadily rebounding since the Great Recession, the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2016’s Fastest Growing Cities.

In order to identify the U.S. cities that grew the most rapidly between 2009 and 2015, WalletHub’s analysts compared 515 U.S. cities across 14 key metrics, ranging from “population growth rate” to “college-educated population growth” to “unemployment rate decrease.” In addition, we produced separate rankings for large, midsize and small cities.

1. Frisco, TX
2. League City, TX
3. Lehigh Acres, FL
4. Kent, WA
5. Surprise, AZ

Waterloo ranks 186 out of the 515 U.S. Cities that were taken into account during this process. Souix City ranks 299, Iowa City comes in at 304, Des Moines ranks 357, Cedar Rapids is 413th on the list.

Best vs. Worst 

• Lehigh Acres, Fla., experienced the highest population growth, at 8.44 percent. Conversely, Detroit experienced the highest population decrease, at 4.47 percent.
• College Station, Texas, experienced the highest household income increase, at 9.07 percent. Conversely, Kenner, La., experienced the highest household income decrease, at 2.76 percent.
• Frisco, Texas, experienced the highest job growth, at 5.32 percent. Conversely, Decatur, Ill., experienced the highest jobs decrease, at 1.31 percent.
• McKinney, Texas, experienced the highest poverty rate decrease, at 9.63 percent. Conversely, Ellicott City, Md., experienced the highest poverty rate increase, at 87.61 percent.
• Midland, Texas, experienced the highest growth in GDP per capita, at 11.81 percent. Conversely, Yuma, Ariz., experienced the highest decrease in GDP per capita, at 2.79 percent.

(Source: WalletHub)