Fort Bend makes list of America's fastest growing counties

Fort Bend County, located southwest of Houston, is America’s fifth fastest-growing country, according to a new analysis by Forbes.

Forbes ranked the 10 fastest-growing counties in the U.S. and found almost all of the top ten counties are in suburban areas. To rank the list, Forbes measured counties’ percentage growth from 2010 to 2012.

In Fort Bend, population increased 7.16 percent during this time period, and in 2012, Fort Bend had a total population 627,293.

Forbes pointed out that the booming energy business contributed to Fort Bend’s growth as corporations are moving to livable centers that feature a high quality of life.

Indeed, three major companies have expansions underway in Fort Bend County — Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR), Texas Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq: TXN) and Nalco Co.

In addition, Memorial Hermann Health System said it will soon start building a $93 million expansion at its Sugar Land hospital, which is in Fort Bend.

This growth has made the residential real estate market in Fort Bend red hot, and master-planned communities such as Telfair and Riverstone are short on lot supply and nearly sold out.

Many of the fastest-growing counties on Forbes' list were near Texas cities. For example, the No. 1 fastest-growing county was Williamson County near Austin and the No. 3 fastest-growing county was Hays County, also near Austin.

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