These Are the Fastest Growing Cities in the U.S. Right Now

Are you more Mount Pleasant or Fort Myers?

COURTESY OF THE BEACHES OF FORT MYERS & SANIBEL
COURTESY OF THE BEACHES OF FORT MYERS & SANIBEL

Personally, I love the fast-paced and trash-lined charm that comes with New York City (okay, so maybe I love it despite the trash part), but I get that not everyone is equipped to handle the chaos of the Big Apple. Maybe your West Village is actually in Fort Myers or Mount Pleasant instead. 

Finance site WalletHub has rounded up the fastest growing cities in the United States. Places that maybe haven't yet topped your "where should I move next" Google searches just yet, but have quickly become hot home destinations nonetheless. 

"Experts might not agree on the 'best' or the 'right' recipe for rapid economic growth, but some cities know the key ingredients for long-term prosperity better than others," WalletHub wrote in a blog post Monday. "Patterns emerge within those cities, allowing us to identify what factors contribute to a lasting cycle of growth." 

The site used a variety of variables to nail down its top city choices, analyzing 515 in total based on population growth, unemployment rates, growth in regional GDP per capita, and other metrics. 

Here are the top 20 fastest growing cities in the US:

1. Fort Myers, FL 
2. Bend, OR
3. Meridian, ID
4. Milpitas, CA
5. Enterprise, NV
6. Frisco, TX
7. Town 'n' Country, FL 
8. Round Rock, TX
9. Mount Pleasant, Sc 
10. Nampa, ID
11. McKinney, TX
12. Henderson, NV
13. Chino, CA 
14. Cape Coral, FL 
15. Port Saint Lucie, FL 
16. Sugar Land, TX
17. Midland, TX
18. Irvine, CA 
19. Murfreesboro, TN
20. College Station, TX

WalletHub evaluated the cities -- all of which varied in size -- by two categories: "sociodemographics"  and "jobs and economy." The site calculated each city's weighted average across each and every metric, before calculating a final score and ranking each.  

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    Megan Schaltegger is a staff writer at Thrillist.