In Texas it seems growth is inevitable. You only have to look as far as Forbes Magazine’s list of fastest growing cities to see Texas leads the way. Texas welcomed in 427,000 newcomers from 2011 to 2012. The state’s four largest metro areas took the lion’s share of the newcomers. Austin leads the way at number one, Houston two, Dallas number three and San Antonio, number nine.

Here’s how they say they came up with the list:

We started with the 100 most populous Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), which are cities and their surrounding suburbs, as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. We rated these geographic areas based on six metrics. Using data from Moody’s Analytics, we assessed the estimated rate of population growth for 2012 and 2013, the rate of job growth in 2012, and the rate of gross metro product growth, or economic growth, for 2012. We also factored in federal unemployment data and median salaries for local college-educated workers, courtesy of Payscale.com. The result is a list of the 20 fastest growing metro areas in America in terms of population and economy.

To see the complete list of the top 20 fastest growing cities, click here.