Small But Mighty: The 50 Fastest-Growing Micropolitan Areas in America

When looking for new electrical revenue opportunities, it’s always tempting to look first at the more populated metropolitan areas in the United States because of their outsized share of the nation’s total estimated electrical sales potential. But you also need to keep tabs on the fastest-growing smaller town and counties enjoying big-time population growth, too, because it’s often a sign of some nice supplemental electrical business, too.
Smaller areas as defined by the U.S. Census Dept. as micropolitan market areas, typically have at least one city or  what the Census Dept. calls a “core urban area” with about 50,000 or so residents along with surrounding counties economically connected to that core area or city. Most of these micropolitan market areas are in more rural areas of the United States, although some border more established Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and are seeing spillover population and construction growth from those markets. 
Many of the micropolitan markets with big population increases in the chart on page 2 have a few things in common. Quite a few are in the Sunbelt or Intermountain states. For example, with the 100  micropolitan markets that added the most new residents from 2020 to 2024, Texas (13) and Tennessee (10) were home to the most areas,  followed by North Carolina and Georgia with seven  micropolitan areas, and Florida and Idaho, each with five areas.
It will probably come as no surprise  that many of the fastest-growing small rural markets are near popular vacation spots like  the beach, mountains or national parks.  
For example, from 2020 to 2024, Seaford, DE, the fastest-growing micropolitan area, attracted 32,340 new residents for a +13.6% population increase. It’s located roughly 30 miles from Delaware’s popular beach towns like Rehoboth Beach. Kalispell, MT, #4 in EM’s Top 50 Fast-Growing Small Markets chart, is attracting new residents (+9,646 population increase since 2020) because of its drop-dead gorgeous natural beauty.  The Cedar City, UT, micropolitan area also capitalizes on its location for outdoors enthusiasts  because of its location near Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, Cedar Breaks National Monument and Brian Head Ski Resort.
The Jefferson, GA, micropolitan area is reportedly attracting plenty of new residents (+17,085 over the past four years) in large part because of its proximity to two SK Battery plants under construction. According to James magazine (www.jamesmagazinega.com), those plants will create more than 2,000 jobs when complete.
While population doesn't always have a direct correlation to new business potential,  it does typically lead to new housing developments, light retail construction like strip shopping centers, gas stations and smaller offices, and eventually bigger projects like schools, office parks and hospitals.

You can get a quick look at micropolitan areas of interest by going to the map below and hovering over various markets. The population data will pop up. To download the U.S. Census Bureau's latest population data for more than 500 micropolitan areas by clicking on the green link below.