Are we witnessing the largest growth spurt in Austin's history?

[G Grasshopper]

Growth in Austin should be looked at in perspective with the growth of the country. Just google anything about US population growth, and it is pretty obvious that the country has grown beyond what used to be considered optimum population. Of course, that is probably a matter of opinion. But the country is certainly stretching its resources. The biggest population growth over the past 20 years has been immigration, not birthrate. And over eighty percent of the growth has been concentrated in urban areas. And there is no slowing or leveling off of the growth rate. So in that situation, would anyone expect Austin not to have a population explosion, too?

[inthecut]

Originally Posted by latikeriii

In my opinion, I think that this is the largest growth spurt in raw numbers but percentage-wise, I still think that the early to late 90s had the largest percentage gain. The early-mid 80s also saw a huge spurt before the market crashed in 87.

I think that not only are you right, but that decade did more to change/redefine Austin, taking it from a relatively off-the-grid regional state capital and funky refuge, to a pretty much mainstream, all-american place that loads of conservative families from Orange Country USA could feel comfortable relocating to. I don't say that in jest. Back in the 80's, the metro was far smaller, and Austin-proper focused, and had far more of a renegade atmosphere. Tech and massive suburban-like sprawl tamed the metro, so to speak, to the relatively unthreatening, almost conformist metro it is today....

[inthecut]

Originally Posted by G Grasshopper

Growth in Austin should be looked at in perspective with the growth of the country. Just google anything about US population growth, and it is pretty obvious that the country has grown beyond what used to be considered optimum population. Of course, that is probably a matter of opinion. But the country is certainly stretching its resources. The biggest population growth over the past 20 years has been immigration, not birthrate. And over eighty percent of the growth has been concentrated in urban areas. And there is no slowing or leveling off of the growth rate. So in that situation, would anyone expect Austin not to have a population explosion, too?

Interesting, Grasshopper, to break growth down like that. Indeed, just mentioning "growth" is meaningless without context or explication/breaking down of the same.

In-state migration would be the main contributor to Austin growth post '80, followed closely by out-of-state migration. Birthrate up to now has been negligible in Austin's recent growth, but, when the out of city led growth slows and levels off in 5-10 years, then the large hispanic population and the young aging in-place and having kids themselves would
become a far greater contribution, perhaps the main contributor as well.