CELINA, Texas — A few years ago, the city of Celina was a quiet ranching town surrounded by open fields an hour north of Dallas. Now, it’s the fastest-growing city in America, where bulldozers outnumber cattle and sprawling new neighborhoods are rising almost overnight.
The boom transforming this once-rural community reflects the explosive growth reshaping North Texas, as families and businesses push beyond city hubs in search of more affordable housing, better schools and more space. But the rapid expansion is also testing Celina’s infrastructure, water supply and ability to preserve the small-town identity that drew many residents there in the first place.
“If you drive around Celina, you can definitely tell that we’re the fastest growing city,” Mayor Ryan Tubbs told Fox News Digital. “We have a lot of road construction going on, a lot of new sewer and water lines, just all different infrastructure projects getting ready to service our residents of the future.”
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According to new U.S. Census Bureau estimates, Celina grew by 24.6% between 2024 and 2025 — meaning roughly one in four people in the city today did not live there a year prior.
Despite this, residents say Celina has managed to hold onto the close-knit community feel that prompted many families to put down roots there.
“Yes, we can see and feel the growth, but we haven’t lost our sense of community here in Celina,” resident Carolyn Harvey told Fox News Digital.
The city’s rapid expansion mirrors the broader population boom unfolding across North Texas, where communities on the outer edges of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex are growing at some of the fastest rates compared to other cities in the country.
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The growth is reshaping not only the region’s economy, but also the political and cultural landscape of suburban Texas. These once-small, now-booming communities are gaining greater influence over schools, infrastructure and statewide priorities the more people relocate there.
But the surge has also brought mounting pressure on roads, utilities and public services as cities like Celina race to keep up with demand. Tubbs said local leaders are trying to balance that growth by expanding infrastructure while continuing to attract more businesses and employers.
“It definitely brings jobs, but it also brings a lot of challenges from an infrastructure standpoint, from water resources [and] road resources,” Tubbs said. “But it brings a lot of opportunities.”
Much of the city’s workforce still commutes to nearby economic hubs like Frisco and McKinney, though officials hope new development will eventually allow more residents to work closer to home. Tubbs says that roughly 30% of residents work remotely, while the others commute to other North Texas cities.
He also noted that the top employer in Celina is the school district with nearly 1,000 employees.
Tubbs said the city hopes to preserve the sense of community that has long defined Celina, even as new residents continue pouring in.
“If I was giving a recommendation for anybody else that’s moving to Texas, it’s just get involved,” Tubbs said. “Give back and see how much you get back from the community.”