U.S. population trends moved south in 2022, Census data show

May 18 (UPI) -- U.S. population centers are moving to the southern states, home to nine of the 15 fastest-growing cities, though New York City remains at the top, Census Bureau data show.

The Census Bureau on Thursday reported that more people were moving to the South. Of the nine-fastest growing cities in the region, meanwhile, six of them were in Texas.

Crystal Delbe, a statistician at Census, said that Georgetown, Texas, was the fastest-growing city in the United States among places with a population of at least 50,000 people. Georgetown saw its population increase by 14.4% year-on-year in 2022.

"New York remained the nation's largest city, despite its recent population decline," she said. "At 8.3 million, its population was more than twice that of the next largest city, Los Angeles, with a population of nearly 4 million."

Santa Cruz, Calif., recorded the second-fastest growth after Georgetown, while Chicago came in third for the highest overall population. Three cities, meanwhile, joined the ranks of those boasting a population of more than 50,000 people -- Wake Forest, N.C., Rockwall, Texas, and Eagle Mountain, Utah.

In terms of housing necessary to support population shifts, data show a 1.2% expansion between July 2021 and July 2022. That marks a slight increase over the 1% expansion over the prior one-year period to 2021.

By state, California had the largest number of housing units, followed by Texas and Florida, respectively. Utah, meanwhile, had the fastest rate of expansion for housing at 3.3% over the year to July 2022.

Housing, however, has come under pressure due to successive rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported an increase of 9 basis points to 6.57% for a 30-year, fixed-term mortgage. That in turn led to a 5% decline in mortgage applications, the slowest pace in a month.