Southern city named as the fastest growing in America - but locals say it's not all good news
Princeton, around 45 miles north of Dallas, saw a 30 percent increase in population from July 2023 to July 2024, with a now estimated 37,000 residents from 28,000.
The number is more than double the city's population in 2020, and has brought many new jobs to the area.
Yet, locals say the city has been left scrambling for resources as the huge increase of people strains their water supply and schools and city services are struggling to keep up.
Their mayor, Eugene Escobar Jr., said that after living in the area for a decade he has seen the city's major transformation.
Escobar remembers Princeton's only two stoplights and having to go to the next town over to shop. Now, with several more stoplights, Princeton also has its own Walmart.
He added that the city had to implement a temporary moratorium on new home construction so infrastructure can keep pace, Associated Press reported.
According to Escobar, the city's major influx in population is due to Princeton's affordability and small-town feel.
'It's still cheaper to commute and live in Princeton than maybe live closer to work,' he said.
The median house prices in the city sit at $325,000, which is still lower than nearby suburbs, AP reported.
Princeton added twice as many houses between 2020 and 2023 as it did in the previous decade, according to census data, the Texas Tribune reported.
Durrie Lee Caldwell, a resident of the city since 1961 when its population was only 800 people, recalled to WFAA how he has witnessed it transform.
'Princeton is home for me,' Caldwell said. 'We go from nothing to what it is now.'
He recalled how the land was nothing but cows, cantaloupes and cotton, with Highway 380 standing as a two-lane partially gravel road.
'I knew it was gonna hit one of these days. And it hit good for me,' he added.
'We're going to get [the growth] one way or another. You might as well like it.'
Escobar told WFAA: 'They want infrastructure. They want things for kids to do. What my goal moving forward is to make sure Princeton is a place where families want to live and stay here.'
City officials are attempting to find ways to keep up with the booming population, including improving public amenities with a $109 million bond program to reinvigorate the city's parks.
'We have the ability to dictate what future generations are going to enjoy in Princeton and frame that identity today,' City Manager Michael Mashburn told the Texas Tribune.
Princeton is one of many Texas cities experiencing a boom in population.
Fort Worth surpassed Austin as the fourth-largest city in Texas with now more than 1 million residents, Fox 4 reported.
In addition to Princeton, three other cities in Collin County - Celina, Anna and Melissa - were also among the 15 fastest growing cities nationally.
The flocks of people to the southern cities has been reported as a result of many major companies moving their headquarters into Texas.
Companies such as Realtor.com, SpaceX, Chevron and Oracle all moved to Texas in search of its low taxes and limited regulation.
Robert Thomson, Chief Executive Officer of News Corp, was equally enthusiastic about the move to Texas.
Realtor.com, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, announced it is relocating its headquarters from Santa Clara to Austin in February.
'We are proud to be housed in a state which understands the crucial role played by business in providing opportunities for personal growth, professional success and community achievement,' Thomson said of the announcement.
'Our investment in Austin is a downpayment on The American Dream.'
SpaceX owner Elon Musk cited abundance of housing and lower taxes as reasons for moving Tesla's offices from California to Texas.
Chevron claimed its own relocation was due to increased environmental and business regulations in the blue state.
California has strict fuel-quality rules which were imposed to limit harmful emissions and curb environmental damage.
According to oil industry analysts, such regulations make it more expensive to produce oil in California, compared to other states.
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