How many people are moving to Austin each day?

It’s not your imagination ­— there really are more moving vans in Austin these days.

In 2021, about 116 net new residents moved to the Austin metro a day, according to data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The metro had the fourth-largest total population growth in the United States between July 2020 and July 2021, when the state of Texas added an estimated 310,288 residents.

About 66% of all U.S. counties welcomed new residents from other states in 2021. The five-county Austin metro had an estimated 40,264 residents move in from elsewhere in the state and U.S. in 2021, plus 2,277 new residents from other countries.

One Central Texas county ranked among the top U.S. counties in terms of population gain. Williamson County gained an estimated 27,760 new residents in 2021, making it one of the 10 fastest-growing counties in the nation.

Meanwhile, Bastrop County was among four counties across the nation that surpassed 100,000 residents in 2021, reaching an estimated population of 102,058. The other counties were Cleveland County, North Carolina (100,359); Lancaster County, South Carolina (100,336); and Grant County, Washington (100,297).

Hays County saw an estimated population increase of 11,588, from 243,809 to 255,397; Travis County saw an increase of 9,054, from 1,296,100 to 1,305,154; and Caldwell County jumped an estimated 824 residents, from 45,967 to 46,971.

When looking at migration, Austin City Demographer Lila Valencia said domestic migration — which includes people moving from other states, as well as other counties in Texas — has been increasing for several years now. The growth, she said, has more to do with the area’s economic growth than with the pandemic.

The region has been a magnet for people, companies and new jobs for the past decade. The metro has been home to more than a million workers since 2013, growing steadily each year, according to data from the Austin Chamber of Commerce. This growth fell off at the onset of the pandemic, but the area had fully rebounded by May 2021, regaining all of the jobs it lost, and then some.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the Austin was the best performing large metro in terms of job re-growth following pandemic losses.

Major employers have entered or ramped up their presence in the Austin market in recent years. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. made international headlines last year when it chose the small suburb of Taylor — with a population of just over 17,000 — for its $17 billion chipmaking plant. Also in 2021, Tesla Inc. moved its headquarters from California to Austin.

Valencia said the pandemic may not have been the main cause of the area’s in-migration, but it did have an effect on natural growth — or the difference between births and deaths. The number of deaths more than tripled in the metro between 2020 and 2021, from 3243 to 14,481. At the same time, the birth rate tripled, from 6,209 up to 25,626, counteracting much of the population loss.

Valencia also noted that the pandemic hampered international migration to the region, which could have wide impacts on the area’s economy.

Homes in Williamson County are relatively affordable compared to the city of Austin. In February, the median home in Williamson County cost $479,000, according to the Austin Board of Realtors. Meanwhile in Austin, the median home cost almost $100,000 more, at $565,000. But Baellow said they’re still seeing homes sell about 4% over list price on average in Williamson County.

In Bastrop County, the median home price reached $443,835 in February, a 61% year-over-year increase. Total sales dollar volume reached $35 million.

Courtesy of Austin Business Journal. See the full article here.