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- Wildwood-The Villages, Florida, saw its population increase 4.7% from July 1, 2022, to a year later.
- On Realtor.com, The Villages was called a seller's market for February.
- Napa, California; Ithaca, New York; and Charleston, West Virginia; saw relatively large percent declines.
Cities in the South are thriving.
A new post published by the Census Bureau's Kristie Wilder and Paul Mackun highlighted that four of the top five metro areas by population percent increases were in Florida. Wildwood-The Villages in Florida saw the greatest increase from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2023, among metros.
Additionally, the data from the Census Bureau shows there were also a lot of metros with population percent declines during that time. While many of these were small, New Orleans-Metairie in Louisiana had the biggest percent decline at around 1.2%.
Four of the top 10 places in terms of largest numeric growth from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2023, among metros were in Texas and three were in Florida.
"The population growth in Florida's metro areas underscores a larger trend of widespread population growth across the South, the nation's fastest-growing region and site of all of the top 10 fastest-growing U.S. metro areas from 2022 to 2023," the Census Bureau post stated. "The growth continued a pattern already clear the previous year when eight of the 10 fastest-growing metro areas were in the South."
Largely fueled by people moving in from other parts of the US, the metro area of Wildwood-The Villages saw a 4.7% increase in its overall population. The metro's population climbed from 144,767 as of July 1, 2022, to 151,565 as of July 1, 2023. The recent Census Bureau post noted this area is "known for its large retirement community."
Realtor.com said The Villages "is a seller's market in February 2024, which means that there are more people looking to buy than there are homes available." Realtor.com said Wildwood was a buyer's market for February.
The metro area of Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach in South Carolina ranked No. 3 for its population percent increase among metros from July 1, 2022, to a year later. According to Realtor.com, the median listing home price for Myrtle Beach specifically experienced a 11.5% decline from February 2023 to the $299,900 price this past February. And while The Villages might be considered a seller's market, Myrtle Beach was noted on the site as a buyer's market as of February.
In general, it might be a hard time to find a home. Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst for Realtor.com, previously told Business Insider this year "will still be a challenging housing market."
"Buyers are seeing less home inventory, less homes for sale in the market, and sellers are less incentivized to sell in today's market," Jones said.
The metro area of New Orleans-Metairie in Louisiana saw the biggest population percent decline from July 2022 to July 2023, at 1.2%. Negative net domestic migration in this metro contributed to the population decline. Santa Cruz-Watsonville and Napa are the two California metros that made the top 10 biggest population percent declines.