America's midsize, 'inner Sun Belt' cities grow

Often, affordability corresponds with smaller size. Murfreesboro has just 80,000 residents.

Mr. Frey, looking at cities with more than 100,000 residents, finds that smaller ones – those with less than 250,000 people – are clearly the fastest growing. Their populations on average have risen 5.7 percent in the past six years. Cities in the next tier, with populations at 250,000 to 500,000, have averaged 4.9 percent growth, while the nation's largest cities have grown more slowly – 3.5 percent.

Like Murfreesboro, other communities of the interior South rank among the nation's fastest growing. These include Denton, Texas, and the town of Cary, N.C. In many cases, these growing cities overlap with the nation's 100 fastest-growing counties. McKinney, Texas, (the No. 2 city), is in Collin County (the No. 14 county). North Las Vegas (No. 1) is in Clark County (63rd in the county ranking). All these places have populations below 200,000.

By whatever name – some call them "boomburbs," exurbs, or new metropolises – these locuses of growth often have one thing in common: They're within visiting distance of a much larger city but far enough away to feel a bit removed.

"Some of the ambiguity of these terms is about the ambiguity of the situation," says Mr. Johnson.

Often, these place are lumped together statistically in a larger metro region, which can mask important demographic shifts.

Murfreesboro, for example, counts as part of the larger Nashville MSA (metropolitan statistical area), which has seen its population rise just 11 percent since 2000.

Nashville is still the big city, the place that defines this region with its country music heritage. But places like Murfreesboro, Smyrna, and La Vergne – all in Rutherford County – are where the growth is really happening.

Manufacturing jobs have flowed in, with Nissan's auto plant in Smyrna leading the way. But so have insurance and healthcare jobs. It's also a trucking hub, says David Penn, an economist at Middle Tennessee State University here. The area is within a day's drive of half the nation's population, making it a desirable location for warehousing and distribution.

The rapid growth brings the challenge of how to manage it.

"The traffic stinks," says Margaret Bogle, laughing as she looks out the window at potential customers driving by her quilt shop. "Memorial Boulevard is so busy that it's hard for them to see [the store]."

But with growth has come new job opportunities for young people and expansion of the university.

"At night you can't find a parking place," says Matt Murfree III, an attorney whose surname hails from the same Revolutionary War hero for whom the city is named. "It's like the gold rush here. The growth is phenomenal."

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