One Of America's Fastest Growing Places Is This Wisconsin City

I didn't realize until doing a little research for this piece that America's population is up a little over 2.5 percent over the last five years, going from 327 million people in 2016 to almost 332 million people as of last year.

And while the population continues to grow, so does the exodus of people from northern states to southern ones, particularly Florida, Texas, and Arizona. Most of the fastest growing cities in the country are in that region--but, as you'll see, not all of them.

This place used to lead the nation in people moving in. (Getty Images)

For Decades, It Was Pretty Easy To Answer The Question Of Which City (And Which State) Were America's Fastest Growing Places

The fastest growing city was Las Vegas, and the fastest growing state was Nevada, going all the way back to 1970--but that domination came to end with the reading of the 2020 census results.

8NewsNow.com:

Nevada has had the fastest growing population dating back to the 1970 U.S. Census (71.3%) — and Nevada was barely in second in the 1960 census, posting a 78.2% growth rate compared to Florida’s 78.7%.
During boom years in the 1980s and beyond, Nevada’s population growth was far above other states as Las Vegas attracted people in search of jobs. The 1990 census showed 50.1% growth, and the population continued to explode, with 66.3% growth by the 2000 census.
Figures from the 2010 census showed 35.1% growth — still far above second place Arizona (24.6%).

Nevada has now dropped to being the 5th fastest growing state, with 15% growth.

Let's get back to Wisconsin. (Getty Images)

Getting Back To The Topic At Hand, The Map Above Shows The Wisconsin City That's Really Getting An Influx Of People

According to rankings compiled by 247WallSt.com, the fastest growing big city in all of Wisconsin is Wausau, or Wassau-Weston, as they name it.

Not as glamorous as the Las Vegas sign, but it is made entirely of cheese. (Getty Images)

247WallSt.com puts Wassau-Weston at #8 on their list of the fastest growing big cities:

8. Wausau-Weston, WI
> 2016-2021 pop. growth: +22.6% (+30,586)
> 2021 population: 166,189 — #256 highest out of 381
> 2016 population: 135,603 — #294 highest out of 381
> 2016-2021 employment growth: 1.3% — #196 largest increase out of 231
> Dec 2021 unemployment rate: 2.2% — #20 lowest out of 381
> Dec 2016 unemployment rate: 3.3% — #35 lowest out of 381

Jackson, Tennessee takes the number-one spot with nearly 40 percent population growth since 2016.