Though Chicago remains the third-largest city in the United States, behind New York and Los Angeles, fourth-place Houston continued to close the gap, moving to within 380,492 residents of Chicago, according to the US Census Bureau. Houston, the biggest city in Texas, gained 8,057 last year and now has more than 2.3 million.
The growth in Houston reflects national trends, as cities in the South and West _ including Phoenix, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Texas, Seattle and Charlotte, N.C. _ continue to gain population at a rapid clip. Chicago will be overtaken by Houston eventually, demographers say, given the rates of change for both cities _ but not in the next couple of years.
