{"id":321606,"date":"2026-06-03T22:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T22:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/321606\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T22:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T22:48:11","slug":"san-antonio-launches-downtown-thursday-with-free-parking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/321606\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio launches Downtown Thursday with free parking"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do you get when you combine a city’s surge in population, housing growth, and economy? For a place like New Braunfels, it all adds up to being named America’s No. 2 newest boomtown, according to a new survey<\/a> from SmartAsset.<\/p>\n

The personal finance website’s just-released report analyzed more than 400 U.S. cities with populations of 65,000 or more to identify places experiencing rapid growth based on five-year changes in economic output, housing units, and labor force size. <\/p>\n

Texas is home to the second-highest concentration of new boomtowns in America with 18 out of 75 located in the Lone Star State. Only Florida ranks higher than Texas by just one. <\/p>\n

However, Texas nearly locked out the top five most bustling boomtowns in America. After top ranking Georgetown, Central Texas neighbors New Braunfels (No. 2) and Leander (No. 4) ranked close behind, with the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Lewisville ranking No. 5. Lehi, Utah claimed third place.<\/p>\n

New Braunfels has seen a 34 percent increase in housing units from 2019 to 2024, with its labor force growing by 32 percent during that time. SmartAsset also determined that Comal County’s economic output grew at compound annual rates of 6.8 percent \u2014 higher than almost all other counties in the U.S.<\/p>\n

The report says population booms and “expanding business activity” can create “visible momentum” for an up-and-coming city, but these fast changes can alter a city in ways residents may not expect.<\/p>\n

“In recent years, some American cities stand out for attracting people, investment and development at a pace that sets them apart,” the report said. “Boomtown status does not mean growth benefits everyone equally, but it does reflect a city\u2019s expanding economic capacity and the new opportunities that come with it.”<\/p>\n

New Braunfels has soared<\/a> in popularity as one of America’s most sought-after suburbs<\/a> over the last several years, boosted by its family-friendliness, its livability for retirees<\/a>, and its overall safety<\/a> for residents. The city’s food scene has also seen rapid expansion this year with the opening of new restaurants like Old City Hall Restaurant and Bar<\/a>, \u00a1Saludos! Cocina + Bar<\/a>, and Mattenga’s Pizzeria<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Visitors can experience New Braunfels’ charm for themselves at boutique hotels like the newly opened Petit Cowboy<\/a> or recently renovated Faust Hotel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

America’s top 10 new boomtowns are:<\/p>\n

No. 1 \u2013 GeorgetownNo. 2 \u2013 New BraunfelsNo. 3 \u2013 Lehi, UtahNo. 4 \u2013 LeanderNo. 5 \u2013 LewisvilleNo. 6 \u2013 Palm Coast, FloridaNo. 7 \u2013 Nampa, IdahoNo. 8 \u2013 McKinneyNo. 9 \u2013 ConroeNo. 10 \u2013 Frisco<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What do you get when you combine a city’s surge in population, housing growth, and economy? For a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[44585,993,2777,64,3569,13702,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-321606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-city-news","tag-downtown","tag-entertainment","tag-events","tag-food-trucks","tag-parking","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}