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Fastest growing boomtowns

Rising oil and gas prices have brought big oil, plenty of workers and lots of housing headaches to the nation's fastest-growing boomtowns.

Midland, Texas

boom towns midland texas
  • Population: 151,662
  • 1-year growth*: 4.6%

The hometown of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush, has been a major oil-producing area since the early 1920s.

It's a white-collar town where many of the managers and executives who supervise oil production live. That's where "W's" dad, George H.W. Bush, moved to get into the oil business.

The current energy boom is driving Midland's population growth, according to Thomas Mesenbourg, acting director of the Census Bureau.

"The Permian Basin, located primarily in West Texas, and North Dakota, accounted for almost half of the total U.S. growth in firms that mine or extract oil and gas, during [the] one-year period," he said.

In December, the unemployment rate in Midland was a miniscule 3.1%, down from 3.6% earlier.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.
*Rankings are based on the change in annual population estimates for metropolitan and micropolitan areas between July 1, 2011 to July 1, 2012.
  @CNNMoney - Last updated March 19 2013 05:58 AM ET

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