Census reveals more new people in Houston region than any other in U.S.

The Houston region has topped the nation for population growth according to 2012-2013 U.S. Census Bureau estimates released this week.

The latest data shows an extra 138,000 people in the Houston metro area, meaning Houston beat out New York (an increase of 112,000), Dallas-Fort Worth (108,000) and Los Angeles (94,000).

Texas as a whole also topped out with an extra 387,000 people, more than any other state.

The Houston increase is in large part due to migration, with almost 60 percent of new Houstonians either international or domestic immigrants.

The majority of those new folks are heading into Harris County, which saw a population increase of more than 80,000, the largest numeric increase for any county in the country.

Fort Bend is also pulling impressive numbers.

That county's increase of 26,500 people over 2012-2013 made it the fastest growing large county (over 250,000) in the country.

In terms of fastest growing cities, the oil and gas boom fueled rapid increases in Odessa and Midland, the second and third fastest growing cities respectively.

Despite the focus on migration, the state's birth rate is still healthy with 381,897 new Texans on the planet, a rate second only to California where a whopping 503,634 babies were born.

Overall, that natural increase almost balanced out against many more Californians dying.

The new figures mean the Houston-Woodlands-Sugar Land area is the fifth largest metro area in the nation, behind Dallas-Arlington-Forth Worth, Chicago and Los Angeles.

New York-Newark-Jersey City is still far and away the most populous metro area in the U.S., with just under 20 million people, more than three times that in Houston-Woodlands-Sugar Land.

Houstonians also have three time as much space. New York squeezes 20 million people into just 13,000 square miles. Houston's 6.3 million people have almost as much room to spread out in its 10,000 square miles.