For the stats nerds, here are population growth figures for metro areas in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand which I have collated , based on the latest figures I could find. I have used growth of at least 20,000 people as the cut-off.
Metro Area..........Increase...........Population........Growth Rate
London, UK..........175,246............13,653,039.........1.3%
Dallas, TX............143,435..............7,233,323.........2.0%
Houston, TX.........125,005...............6,772,470........1.9%
Toronto, ON.........118,343..............6,242,273.........1.9%
Melbourne, VIC....107,770..............4,641,636.........2.4%
Los Angeles, CA.....96,038............18,688,022.........0.5%
Phoenix, AZ..........93,680..............4,661,537.........2.1%
Atlanta, GA...........90,650..............5,789,700.........1.6%
Sydney, NSW.........82,797.............5,005,358..........1.7%
Seattle, WA...........71,805.............3,798,902..........1.6%
San Francisco, CA...66,230.............8,751,807.........0.8%
Miami, FL..............64,670.............6,066,387.........1.1%
Tampa, FL.............61,085.............3,032,171..........2.1%
Orlando, FL...........59,125..............2,441,257.........2.5%
Austin, TX.............58,301..............2,056,405.........2.9%
Washington, DC.....53,508..............6,131,977.........0.9%
Salt Lake City, UT...50,929.............2,514,748..........2.1%
Charlotte, NC........49,671..............2,474,314.........2.0%
San Antonio, TX.....47,906..............2,429,609.........2.0%
Las Vegas, NV.......46,375..............2,155,664..........2.2%
Auckland, NZ........44,400..............1,614,300..........2.8%
Denver, CO...........44,261..............2,853,077..........1.6%
Montreal, QC........44,135..............4,093,767..........1.1%
Vancouver, BC.......41,320..............2,548,740.........1.6%
Brisbane, QLD.......41,135..............2,349,699.........1.8%
Portland, OR.........40,148..............2,424,955..........1.7%
Nashville, TN........36,337..............1,865,298..........2.0%
Calgary, AB..........35,769..............1,469,341..........2.5%
New York, NY........35,571............20,152,634..........0.2%
Edmonton, AB.......33,436..............1,392,594..........2.4%
Minneapolis, MN....32,784..............3,551,036..........0.9%
Raleigh, NC..........31,565..............1,302,946..........2.5%
Jacksonville, FL.....30,196..............1,478,212..........2.1%
Sacramento, CA....28,830..............2,296,418..........1.3%
Boston, MA...........27,692..............4,794,447..........0.6%
San Diego, CA.......27,504..............3,317,749..........0.8%
Perth, WA.............27,428..............2,066,564..........1.3%
Birmingham, UK....25,201..............2,833,557..........0.9%
Manchester, UK.....23,308..............2,756,162..........0.8%
Fort Myers, FL.......22,057................722,336..........3.1%
Columbus, OH.......21,376..............2,041,520..........1.1%
Ottawa, ON...........21,328..............1,351,135..........1.6%
Sarasota, FL.........20,444.................788,457..........2.7%
Kansas City, MO.....20,045..............2,104,509..........1.0%
Notable Others:
Chicago, IL..........-19,570...............9,512,999.........-0.2%
Detroit, MI.................79...............4,297,617..........0.0%
Philadelphia, PA......8,197...............6,070,500...........0.1%
Notes:
(1) ‘London’ is based on the ‘Larger Urban Zone’ as defined by Eurostat, with the component parts taken from this Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_commuter_belt. I think this is a sensible definition of the metro area.
(2) UK figures are the 2015 mid-year estimates available from this page:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulat...orthernireland
The 2016 mid-year estimates aren’t available yet.
(2) US figures are ‘Metropolitan Statistical Areas’ at 1 July 2016 taken from
https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/...xhtml?src=bkmk , with the following exceptions:
- CSA is used for Los Angeles and San Francisco – I think it is generally recognized that the MSAs are understated due to the split between LA/Riverside and SF/San Jose
- CSA is used for Salt Lake City as otherwise it was split into 3 MSAs each below 20,000 increase (Salt Lake City, Provo, Orem)
Beside these metro areas, there is generally not a great deal of difference between the MSA and CSA growth figures – the only metros where the difference exceeds 10,000 are Miami, Orlando, Portland, Raleigh, Seattle and Washington.
(3) Australian figures are ‘Greater Capital City Statistical Areas’ at 30 June 2016 taken from this page:
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@....-16&num=&view=
(4) Canadian figures are ‘Census Metropolitan Areas’ at 1 July 2016 taken from this page:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/91-214-...tbl1-1-eng.htm
(5) New Zealand figures are 'Subnational Population Estimates' at 30 June 2016 taken from this page:
http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_...16/Tables.aspx
Whilst we can quibble at the margins about what should and should not be included in a metro area, I think the figures I have selected are reasonably comparable. Any major differences generally arise from adding additional areas which are a long way from the centre of the metro area.
If anybody has figures from other countries, feel free to post them here.