America's Fastest-Growing Suburb Isn't Where You'd Expect

Yahoo

10-04-2025

Like so many other facets of everyday life, cities, towns, and other residential areas rise and fall in popularity over time. Just when it seems like one community is on the downward slope, however, it suddenly experiences a major boom in its population, ushering in increased job opportunities, larger expansions in housing, and other notable aspects of development.
Interestingly, the personal finance and date website GOBankingRates has recently found that the fastest-growing suburban area isn't a residential neighborhood of Austin or Charleston. Instead, it's a relatively small community just outside Washington, D.C.: I.E., the quaint Virginian town of Woodbridge, roughly 30 minutes outside the Capital City.
According to GOBankingRates' research findings, the Prince William County community had roughly 4,400 people making up its population in 2018. By 2023, that number had risen to a staggering 43,443 residents within its designated borders.
CJ Williamson, a researcher with GOBankingRates, revealed the website's data to Travel + Leisure, telling the travel publication, "Woodbridge is by far the number one fastest-growing suburb in America, according to our latest research. The DC-area suburb experienced a massive population boom of 887% between 2018 and 2023."
To help determine the development rate of U.S. suburbs, Williamson said GOBankingRates specifically looked to sudden surges in population rates for suburban areas from 2018 to 2023. At a population growth rate of 887%, GOBankingRates listed Woodbridge as the suburbs that experienced the most dramatic increase, with three Texas communities -- Fulshear (236%), Celina (190%) and Princeton (114%) -- detailed a far distance behind.
While Woodbridge's massive growth spells out a major victory for Northern Virginia, the website's data shows that the state with the highest number of fast-growing communities is Texas, with a total of 16 suburbs experiencing rapid growth in that five-year period.
To afford a residence in Woodbridge, GOBankingRates also found that you'd likely need a household income of over $120,000, factoring in groceries, entertainment, and basic cost of living.