America's fastest growing cities
by
Jul 16th 2008 11:30AM
Updated Jul 16th 2008 2:55AM
By sheer coincidence, found myself in New Orleans this past weekend, which happens to be one of America's Fastest Growing Cities according to recent Census Bureau data. Victorville in California was number two. While some of New Orleans' growth is based on people returning to their homes after all the hurricane damage, there does seem to be a flourishing tourism industry in New Orleans, with a large Harrah's casino and several high end restaurants such as Shula's, GW Fins, Morton's and, of course, Ruth's Chris.
The local NBA team is coming off a run through the Eastern Conference finals, so morale in the city seemed to be fairly high despite the 99 degree heat and humidity. There are also a ton of local golf courses, so you can see why people might be looking to move to this area while home prices are fairly affordable. The average market value in the New Orleans housing market is only $158K.
Three cities in Texas, Denton, McKinney and Killeen, made the list, most likely reflecting the booming energy industry in that state. North Las Vegas and Gilbert, Arizona, were the two cities that made the list from the Southwest. Port St. Lucie showed that Florida is not quite dead yet, and Cary, N.C., showed the continued strength of North Carolina to attract citizens from East Coast cities looking cheap housing, jobs and better weather.
Check out more of the best places to live at AOL Real Estate
Brett Widness is an editor with AOL's real estate channel and a licensed real estate agent.
The local NBA team is coming off a run through the Eastern Conference finals, so morale in the city seemed to be fairly high despite the 99 degree heat and humidity. There are also a ton of local golf courses, so you can see why people might be looking to move to this area while home prices are fairly affordable. The average market value in the New Orleans housing market is only $158K.
Three cities in Texas, Denton, McKinney and Killeen, made the list, most likely reflecting the booming energy industry in that state. North Las Vegas and Gilbert, Arizona, were the two cities that made the list from the Southwest. Port St. Lucie showed that Florida is not quite dead yet, and Cary, N.C., showed the continued strength of North Carolina to attract citizens from East Coast cities looking cheap housing, jobs and better weather.
Check out more of the best places to live at AOL Real Estate
Brett Widness is an editor with AOL's real estate channel and a licensed real estate agent.
