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By Mike Schneider

The Associated Press

HAINES CITY, Fla. 鈥� Not long ago, Polk County鈥檚 biggest draw was citrus instead of people. Located between Tampa and Orlando, the region produces more boxes of citrus than any other county in the state and has devoted tens of thousands of acres to growing millions of trees.

But last year,聽more people 鈥� almost 30,000 鈥� moved to the county聽than to any other in the United States.

Construction crews in recent years bulldozed citrus groves to make way for housing and big-box stores that could one day merge the two metropolitan areas into what has half-jokingly been dubbed 鈥淥rlampa.鈥�

The migration (and property sprawl) reflects a significant kind of growth seen all over the country this decade: the rise of the far-flung exurbs.

Outlying communities on the outer margins of metro areas 鈥� some as far away as 60 miles from a city鈥檚 center 鈥� had some of the fastest-growing populations last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Those communities are primarily in the South, like Anna on the outskirts of the Dallas-Fort Worth area; Fort Mill, South Carolina, outside Charlotte, North Carolina; Lebanon outside Nashville; and Polk County鈥檚 Haines City.

For some residents, like Marisol Ortega, commuting to work can take up to an hour and a half each way. But Ortega, who lives in Haines City, about 40 miles from her job in Orlando, says it鈥檚 worth it.

鈥淚 love my job,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 love what I do, but then I love coming back home, and it鈥檚 more tranquil.鈥�

A pandemic exodus and more

The rapid growth of exurbs is an after-effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Census Bureau. Rising housing costs drove people farther from cities and remote work allowed many to do their jobs from home at least part of the week.

Polk County鈥檚 Hispanic population has grown significantly over the past five years, from one fifth to more than one quarter of the total. That has been driven by migration from Puerto Rico after 2017鈥檚 Hurricane Maria and then from New York during the pandemic.

The county has grown more diverse with the share of non-Hispanic white residents dropping from 61 percent to 54 percent, and it has also become more educated and wealthier, according to the Census Bureau. Despite the influx of new people, the county鈥檚 Republican leanings have remained relatively unchanged.

Yeseria Suero and her family moved from New York to Polk County at the start of the decade after falling in love with the pace of life and affordability during a visit. Still, there were some cultural adjustments: restaurants closing early, barbecue and boiled peanuts everywhere, strangers chatting with her at the grocery store. Suero is now involved with the tight-knit Hispanic community and her two boys are active in sports leagues.

鈥淢y kids now say, 鈥榊es, ma鈥檃m,鈥欌�� she said.

Recent hurricanes and citrus diseases in Florida also have made it more attractive for some Polk County growers to sell their citrus groves to developers who build new residences or stores.

Over the past decade, citrus growth there declined from聽81,800 acres and almost 10 million trees聽in 2014 to聽58,500 acres and 8.5 million trees聽in 2024, according to federal agricultural statistics.

鈥淚t hasn鈥檛 been a precipitous conversion of citrus land for growth,鈥� said Matt Joyner, CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual, a grower鈥檚 group. 鈥淏ut certainly, you see it in northern, northeastern Polk.鈥�

An exurb of an exurb

Anna, Texas, more than 45 miles north of downtown Dallas, is seeing the same kind of migration.

It was the fourth-fastest growing city in the U.S. last year and its population has increased by a third during the 2020s to 27,500 residents. Like Polk County, Anna has gotten a little older, richer and more racially diverse. Close to three in five households have moved into their homes since 2020, according to the Census Bureau.

Schuyler Crouch, 29, and his wife wanted to buy a house in a closer-in exurb like Frisco, where he grew up, so they could settle down and start a family. But prices there have skyrocketed聽because of population growth.

In Anna, they fell in love last year with a house that was more reasonably priced. They both work in Frisco, about 30 miles away, and it has become their go-to for eating out or entertainment instead of downtown Dallas, even though Frisco itself not long ago was considered a far-flung outpost of the metro area.

Still, Crouch said he has noticed the exurbs getting pushed further north as breakneck growth makes affordable housing out of reach in neighborhoods once considered on the fringes of the metro area.

鈥淭he next exurb we are going to be living in is Oklahoma,鈥� he joked.