(NEXSTAR) — Does it feel like there are more people in some Connecticut cities than a few years ago? Depending on where you live, that might actually be the case.

SmartAsset, a financial tech company, has released a list of the fastest-growing cities with populations over 100,000 in the United States. That growth was based on the population difference reported by the U.S. Census between 2017 and 2022 for the 344 largest cities.

Southwestern cities, many of them desert suburbs, dominated the top of the list, SmartAsset found.

While you may think a city like Los Angeles or New York City would be at the top, it was Buckeye, Arizona, which has seen the largest growth by percentage since 2017. Located roughly 35 miles west of the heart of Phoenix, Buckeye’s population grew by roughly 48%, going from about 68,000 to 105,500 in 2022.

Enterprise, Nevada grew by 46% and Goodyear, Arizona, surged by 27%, rounding out the top three.

Four Connecticut cities saw gains. Waterbury ranked 92nd on the list, growing from 108,642 to 114,009 residents. Stamford was 102nd, growing from 130,835 to 136,197. New Haven came in at 125th and had the largest growth in the state by number of people, jumping from 131,005 to 138,909. Bridgeport brought up the rear at 185th, going from 146,582 to 148,365.

One Connecticut city actually lost residents: Hartford. The capital dropped from 123,420 to 120,682, or -2.3%.

The table below, courtesy of SmartAsset, shows the cities across the country where the population grew — and shrank — since 2017.

"In general we’ve seen positive growth indicators in the southwest besides just population," said Jaclyn DeJohn, Managing Editor of Economic Analysis at SmartAsset. "In fact, Texas and Arizona place second and fourth respectively in terms of where high earners are moving to. One thing that may be drawing high earners and others to these areas is relative tax-friendliness, and lower costs of living than coastal California and major cities."

Over 120 cities analyzed saw a dip in population between 2017 and 2022. That included many major cities, like Salt Lake City, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Portland, Houston, New York City, Des Moines, San Diego, Boulder, Milwaukee and Washington, D.C.

The hardest hit was Paradise, Nevada — the Las Vegas-adjacent town lost 21% of its population, according to SmartAsset's analysis. Others at the bottom of the list were Jackson, Mississippi (-10.4%); Aurora, Illinois (-9.4%); and Highlands Ranch, Colorado (-8.4%).