Two West Valley cities had the highest population growth in the country measured by percentage gains, from 2017 to 2022, according to a report by SmartAsset.
The study, released earlier this month, examined 344 U.S. cities with a population of 100,000 or more in 2022 and found that a majority of the top 10 places with the biggest percentage increase in residents were in the Southwest, a trend that continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Buckeye, which is located about 30 minutes west of downtown Phoenix, saw the No. 1 population growth rate in the U.S. with an increase of 48.1%, SmartAsset reported citing U.S. Census Bureau data.
Goodyear, just east of Buckeye, had the third-highest population growth rate at 27.42%. The city had a population of 105,404 people in 2022.
