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Year-end review: Three Colorado cities among top 2019 boomtowns in the nation

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The top ten cities that experienced economic prosperity and robust development in 2019 – boomtowns – were in Colorado, Texas and South Carolina, according to an analysis by personal finance website SmartAsset.

“Boomtowns are often desirable places to put down roots and take out a mortgage,” the analysis states. “Economic growth provides employment opportunities and draws new residents.”

SmartAsset identified the top ten boomtowns by evaluating 500 of the largest U.S. cities across seven metrics: population change, unemployment rate, change in unemployment rate, GDP growth rate, business growth, housing growth and change in household income.

Colorado, Texas and South Carolina dominated the top 10, with each claiming three of the top boomtowns nationwide.

Longmont, Colorado, ranked first, followed by Denton, Texas, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, Miami, Florida, Greeley, Colorado, New Braunfels, Texas, Denver, Charleston, South Carolina, North Charleston, South Carolina, and Round Rock, Texas.

These cities stood out because of their low unemployment rate and five-year housing growth rate, the SmartAsset report states.

Three of the top ten boomtowns – Greeley, Colorado, New Braunfels, Texas and Round Rock, Texas – experienced population and economic growth at least double the average rates for the unemployment rate and high five-year housing growth rate metrics.

Longmont, located northeast of Boulder, ranked in the top 25 percent of all seven metrics evaluated. It ranked ninth overall for its yearly GDP growth from 2013 through 2017, with a 2.6 unemployment rate and an 18 percent five-year housing growth rate.

Denton, located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, ranked second behind Longmont. Its population increased by 8 percent from 2014 to 2018, and household income grew by more than 36 percent. Unemployment decreased by 0.2 percent since August 2018 and was at 3.1 percent in July 2019. From 2014 to 2018, its housing growth rate grew by 13 percent. Denton is also “home to two of the best school districts in the country to buy an affordable home,” the report adds.

Mount Pleasant, a large suburban town in Charleston County, also ranked in the top 25 percent of the study for all seven metrics. It ranked 20th overall and second-highest in the top ten for its five-year population change of 14.85 percent. It also ranked in the top 35 for its low unemployment rate, five-year establishment growth rate, and high five-year housing growth rate.

Miami, the sole outlier in the top ten not from Colorado, Texas or South Carolina, ranked fourth in the study. It scored in the top 15 percent in six of the seven metrics evaluated, with the exception of its unemployment rate.

From 2014 to 2018, Miami’s population increased by more than 9 percent, its number of housing units increased by more than 10 percent, and its median household income increased by more than 31 percent, the second-highest in the top ten.

No Midwestern or Northeastern cities made the top 50.