- Lauren Barrett, 33, moved to Celina, Texas, America’s fastest-growing city of under 20,000 people.
- The city, about an hour’s drive from downtown Dallas, is booming with new homes and new residents.
- Barrett, a real-estate agent, said people are flocking to Celina for its schools and community.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lauren Barrett, a 33-year-old real-estate agent who moved to Celina, Texas, from the larger city of McKinney — a suburb of Dallas — in 2023.
Celina’s population surged 26.6% from July 2022 to July 2023, making it the fastest-growing city in the US , according to recent Census data. The population as of 2023 was 43,317.
The essay has been edited for length and clarity.
I’m originally from Garland, where I grew up before heading off to college and eventually moving to Dallas.
As my family grew, I moved to Frisco , then McKinney, and finally settled in Celina after divorcing. All these cities are within about an hour’s drive of each other.