America's Fastest-Growing Small Towns

The nice thing about living in a small town, the old saying goes, is that when you don’t know what you’re doing, you can be sure that someone else does. But that may not stay true for long in the fastest-growing small towns in America.
Retirees are swelling some communities quickly, like The Villages, a planned retirement haven in central Florida. The population of The Villages and its surrounding suburbs ballooned 29% to 93,420 between 2007 and 2010, according to the U.S. Census, putting it tops our list. Some 87,000 of them live in the retirement community at the area’s core, a spread of tidy single-story homes clustered around two “town squares” with shops and restaurants. The retirement community’s population is up from 68,000 in 2007, according to Villages spokesperson Gary Lester, and it’s aiming to reach 110,000 residents by 2016. With the baby boom generation reaching retirement age, that looks like an attainable goal.

In Pictures: Fastest-Growing Small Towns To determine which smaller cities are growing fastest, we used census data to calculate the population growth rate between 2007 and 2010 for every Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) with fewer than 100,000 people. These statistical areas are geographic entities defined by the U.S. government that usually encompass a core municipality and its suburbs. The truly smallest towns in America were excluded from our ranking, as micropolitan areas must have populations of at least 10,000. And though the data from 2007 and 2010 is not ideally comparable—the 2007 populations are official estimates based on the 2000 Census, while the 2010 numbers are actual counts—it still provides a good snapshot of how these areas have grown.
Retirees also contributed to the rapid growth of two other places on our list: Boone, N.C., and Heber, Utah, both popular leisure destinations, coming in at No. 4 and 5. The population of the Heber area, a mountain town that’s a magnet for skiers and fly fishers, rose 14.6% to 23,530 from 2007 to 2010; its unemployment rate was just 6.6% in November and it has a median income of $65,204.
The population of Boone, a ski area nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, rose 14.7% to 51,079. It has a median income of $31,967 and a below-the-national-average unemployment rate of 7.2%, and it was recently named one of the 10 best places to retire by U.S. News & World Report. In addition, it’s home to Appalachian State University.
“Boone is a university town, but more than most university towns, it is dominated by the university,” says Todd Cherry, director of the Center for Economic Research and Policy Analysis at Appalachian State. “Indeed, enrollment exceeds the town’s population. Between 2007 and 2010, university enrollment increased by nearly 2,000 students, and [university] employment increased by about 200 people. That’s a primary factor in Boone’s recent growth.”
Here are the top-five, fastest-growing small towns in America:
#5 Heber, UT

The fifth-fastest growing small town is Heber, UT. Photo: Forbes.com

2010 Population: 23,530
2007 Population: 20,535
Growth: 14.6

#4 Boone, NC

The fourth-fastest growing small town is Boone, NC. Photo: Michelle Ligon/ExploreBooneArea.com

2010 Population: 51,079
2007 Population: 44,541
Growth: 14.67

#3 Fort Leonard Wood, MO

The third-fastest growing small town is Fort Leonard Wood, MO. Photo: Lauren Marlowe

2010 Population: 52,274
2007 Population: 44,326
Growth: 17.9

#2 Pecos, TX

The second-fastest growing small town is Pecos, TX. Photo: Forbes.com

2010 Population: 11,183
2007 Population: 13,783
Growth: 23.2

#1 The Villages, FL

The fastest growing small town is The Villages, FL. Photo: Forbes.com

2010 Population: 93,420
2007 Population: 72,246
Growth: 29.0
Click here to see more photos of the Fastest-Growing Small Towns



Source(http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-fastest-growing-small-towns.html)