If you live in Fort Bend County, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. You’ve seen thousands of new residential rooftops pop up in the past decade.
In fact, Fort Bend county ranks among the top U.S. metro counties with the most growth in new units from 2010 to 2020, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released November 2. Among those housing units are single-family homes, condos, townhomes, and apartments.
Specifically, Fort Bend County grew 41 percent (80,880 new housing units) over the past decade, according to the data.
This news is hardly surprising given Fort Bend's explosion. In 2018, Fort Bend was named one of the fastest-growing and affordable U.S. counties. Last year, the region clocked in as top U.S. spot for workforce talent.
Meanwhile, another Houston-area county appears on the “outlying” counties. Montgomery County with 34.2 percent (60,842 new housing units) — that's No. 2 overall.
Elsewhere in Texas, Hays County ranks as the primary U.S. metro county with the most growth in new housing units (57.4 percent). Third-ranked Comal County, part of the San Antonio metro area — 48.5 percent (22,831 new housing units). Tenth-ranked Rockwall County, part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area — 36.8 percent (10,280 new housing units).
Four other Texas counties appear on the same list for “outlying” counties:
No. 1 Denton County, part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area — 36 percent (92,136 new housing units).
No. 3 Kaufman County, part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area — 33.7 percent (12,906 new units).
No. 5 Kendall County, part of the San Antonio metro area — 30.4 percent (4,275 new housing units).
No. 8 Bastrop County, part of the Austin metro area — 25.1 percent (7,367 new housing units.).
“The number of occupied housing units grows when new housing is built or previously vacant homes become occupied. It decreases when housing units become vacant, are demolished or are converted into other uses,” the Census Bureau explains.