by Charlotte Kovalchuk
GROWTH
GEORGETOWN NAMED FASTEST GROWING CITY IN THE U.S.
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erene trails and parks, historic architecture, beloved Red Poppy Festival, and the “Most Beautiful Town Square in Texas” all centered around a close-knit community—it’s no wonder more and more people are calling Georgetown home.
In May 2022, the U.S. Census Bureau named Georgetown the fastest-growing city in the nation for cities with a population above 50,000. The city’s growth rate was 10.5 percent from July 1, 2020, through July 1, 2021, resulting in a population estimate of 75,420. “Georgetown continues to attract new residents for the same reasons many of us moved here—good jobs, safe neighborhoods, and unbeatable parks and events,” Mayor Josh Schroeder says. “But all those things may not be as important as the sense of community you feel when families gather on a Saturday afternoon on our courthouse lawn or dance in the street at our annual Red Poppy Festival. People don’t just move here. They fall in love with this town.” This is the second time in the past seven years that Georgetown has been ranked the fastest-growing city in the U.S. It was the seventh fastest-growing city in the lists released by the Census in 2020 and 2019. In 2018, Georgetown was the sixth fastest-growing city, fifth in 2017, the fastest in 2016, and the second-fastest in 2015.
Chet “Daytripper” Garner at the 2022 Poppy Fest Parade— just two of the many reasons people come to learn about and love Georgetown year after year.
town was ranked 70th overall on the list and first in Texas. WalletHub writer Adam McCann writes, “Size matters when choosing a city in which to launch a startup. As many veteran entrepreneurs—and failed startups—understand well, bigger is not always better. A city with a smaller population can offer a greater chance of success, depending on an entrepreneur’s type of business and personal preferences. The best cities can help new businesses survive economic shocks such [as] the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused hundreds of thousands more businesses to close permanently than would have closed during normal conditions.”
In addition to Georgetown, two other Texas cities made the list of fastest-growing cities in the U.S. with a population above 50,000, including Leander, the second fastest-growing city, and New Braunfels, which was fifth on the list.
BUSINESS-FRIENDLY In addition to being named the fastest-growing city, Georgetown was named the Best Small City in Texas to start a business by personal finance website WalletHub. WalletHub compared the business-friendliness of 1,334 cities with a population between 25,000 and 100,000 by analyzing factors like average growth in the number of small businesses, access to resources, and business costs. George-
2022 • ISSUE 3 | WILCO BUSINESS REVIEW
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