While Harris County continues to grow, its surrounding counties are seeing much faster population increases. Chambers County led the Houston area with a 22.1% rise over five years, as Texas remains a hotspot for domestic and international migration.
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The population of Harris County, Texas, is steadily growing, but the areas around it are growing much faster. The latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau show that Harris County's population grew by 3.4% from 2014 to 2018 to 2019 to 2023. On the other hand, the population of Chambers County grew by an amazing 22.1%. Liberty County (+19.7%), Waller County (+18.9%), and Montgomery County (+18.1%) followed.
Texas has the fastest-growing big counties in the country as a whole. The biggest jump was in Kaufman County, which went up 35.2%. Comal (+29.2%) and Hays (+25.6%) counties also saw big jumps. Between 2023 and 2024, Texas gained almost 563,000 new residents, taking the total number of people living in the state to over 31 million.
Migration from both inside and outside of the country is driving this growth. In fact, Texas has the third-highest net migration wins in the country. 84% of the U.S. population growth between 2023 and 2024 came from people moving here from other countries. In 2023 alone, the U.S. gained 2.3 million people. Texas also continues to have the highest natural population growth, with more births than deaths.
The rise in people living in suburbs is part of a larger trend of people moving to places with better job chances and lower cost of living. Meanwhile, Harris County's slower growth points to a change in the way people live, as neighboring counties bring in new residents at rates that have never been seen before.
