Traffic is just one perk of living in a boomtown. Credit: Flickr Creative Commons

Enjoying those traffic jams, higher rents and the constant creep of urban sprawl? That’s what it’s like to be a boomtown, San Antonio.

Consumer finance website MagnifyMoney this week released a study naming S.A. the 9th fastest-growing boomtown in the United States. And, in a surprise to no one who’s ever endured I-35 gridlock in Austin, our neighbor to the north topped the list.

Indeed, Texas cities make up a third the Magnify Money’s top 15. Dallas, McAllen and Houston landed at 7, 10 and 11, respectively. El Paso tagged along at No. 24.

MagnifyMoney collected data on population, housing, workforce and earnings and business growth for 2011 through 2016 to determine which cities qualify as boomtowns.

Worthy of note, San Antonio’s business growth score of 67 was on par with other cities in the top 10, while its workforce and earnings score of 45.4 was the lowest among the top cities.

Maybe that explains why those quickly rising rents are pricing so many of us out.

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Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current. He holds degrees from Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative...