Does anyone think the city populations

They ALL will.

I think Ft. Worth will do it first simply due to the amount of annexed land the city currently encompasses, but is not built out yet.

It seems Austin will reach the mark first, since it is already the largest, and has been growing faster than Fort Worth for many years now.

Nic said:

It seems Austin will reach the mark first, since it is already the largest, and has been growing faster than Fort Worth for many years now.

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Since 2000, Fort Worth has actually grown faster than Austin. I think that will continue and FW will be the first to pass 1 million. Austin will be next but it wont be far behind FW though. El Paso will be the last to do it though but they all will.

I read an article a while back saying Austin's city population has slowed down a bit but Fort Worth had really picked up the pace. So I think mabye Fort Worth would be first then Austin then El Paso.

Austin's population slowed after the tech bust in 2001, but our economy is really picking up steam again; and we were just listed as the 3rd fastest growing city in America. Also, Austin has more room to grow outward, not to mention there is a whole lot of infill, and new dense development occuring throughout our city.

"A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one." - Aristotle

Austin would be fine if it never reached 1 million residents.

rjlevins said:

"A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one." - Aristotle

Austin would be fine if it never reached 1 million residents.

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Of course it would be fine, but there is no reason why it will not. To the north and south it is somewhat limited by it's suburbs; and to the west you have the enviromental concerns that will somewhat limit development, but there is going to be lots of growth to the east with lots of cheap land and new highway construction. And of course, as I said infill and more dense development in the city itself. Since we are already 700,000 in the city limits now, I would be shocked if we didn't surpass 1 million in Austin in the relatively near future (15 to 25 years).

The North Central Texas Council of Governments estimates Fort Worth's population as of January 1, 2005 to be 618,600. During 2004, the city grew at a rate of 3.59%. I do see Fort Worth growing to over 1 million in the future. I really can't say if Austin will get there before Fort Worth, because there are too many variables. I do believe that all three cities will have over 1 million.

rjlevins said:

"A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one." - Aristotle

Austin would be fine if it never reached 1 million residents.

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indeed. i would actually prefer it if austin wouldn't get too much bigger.

it's about quality over quantity

what are the current populations of the three cities?

Correct me if I'm wrong but, I think the current populations of the three cities are: Fort Worth-550,000, El Paso-600,000 and Austin-700,000.

jmancuso said:

indeed. i would actually prefer it if austin wouldn't get too much bigger.

it's about quality over quantity

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What people do not seem to understand is, if a city is not growing, it is shrinking. Cities do not remain stagnant. A shrinking city means less tax base, less tax base means fewer city services, which in turn means a lower quality of life for it's citizens. I, however am n ot saying a city should grow extremely fast, because that lends itself to it's own set of problems. So, hoping a city to not grow is actually not very wise if you want it to be a nice place.

bigboyz2004 said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but, I think the current populations of the three cities are: Fort Worth-550,000, El Paso-600,000 and Austin-700,000.

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I believe it goes Austin at 680,000, Ft Worth at 620,000 and El Paso at 585,000. Just estimates

all i found was estimates from '03. Austin = 672,011, Fort Worth = 585,122, El Paso = 584,113.
i think they all will eventually hit 1 million. Austin will be first with it's phenominal growth rate. Fort Worth is steady and could see a large boom if Dallas gets too big for itself, like Atlanta metro has done (population trend is moving to ex-urb cities). El Paso, haven't heard much from there in a while. Wasn't it one of the fastest growing cities for a while there? i have no idea what to think about it's future population growth.

just a thought.

Austin will be first with it's phenominal growth rate. Fort Worth is steady and could see a large boom if Dallas

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FW is growing just as fast Austin though. In fact they are growing faster when it comes to raw numbers.

TexasBoi said:

FW is growing just as fast Austin though. In fact they are growing faster when it comes to raw numbers.

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Dude, I know you really want FW to be bigger than Austin, but you gotta quit throwing out these estimates as if they are fact. Truth is, ATX has grown faster than FW fo many years, and will probably continue. Now, maybe because ATX's economy was more tied to technology, the downturn hurt us a little more, and FW has grown faster for a few years now, i dunno. But I doubt it will continue, and in reality although Austin proper may have slowed in population growth, the metro really hasn't missed a beat. And of course as I have said repeatedly, we have more room to grow outwards, and we are growing upwards at a rate faster than FW as well.

Man I dont really care if FW gets to a million faster than Austin. True Austin has been growing at a great rate for quite sometime. But since 2000, FW has been growing faster. Alot faster. In raw numbers FW has added over 50,000 people to Austins 15,000. Whether that will continue or not I dont know but I honestly do not see FW slowing down anytime soon.