Forbes names Orlando area one of the country's fastest-growing cities

The Orlando area was named one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in 2018, according to a new ranking from Forbes.

The ever-expansive "Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford" metropolitan area took the No. 4 spot on Forbes "America's Fastest Growing Cities 2018" list, which is based on population growth, employment, wages and economic output.

The new ranking is slightly lower than last year, when the Orlando area placed at No. 2.

Additionally, the business magazine projects the metropolitan area will see an increase in population by 2.93 percent and wage growth of 7.73 percent in 2018.

Florida reigns over all other states on the list with eight of the 25 named cities. Forbes staff member Samantha Sharf writes the reason behind this is simply demographics. "As the U.S. population ages, more people are moving to the state's longstanding retiree havens," she adds.

Florida is indeed a retiree haven. Pew Research Center reports Florida as having one of "the grayest counties in the nation" based on U.S. Census Bureau 2014 population estimates. West of Orlando sits Sumter County, home to The Villages, which is the only U.S. county where 52.9 percent of residents are 65 and older.

"In Florida, 53 of 67 counties have an above-average share of people 65 and older when compared with the percentage of Americans in that demographic," Pew reports.

Following suit as the fastest-growing cities in America is Cape Coral-Fort Myers at No. 9, West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach at No. 12, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton at No. 13, Lakeland-Winter Haven at No. 14, Jacksonville at No. 16, Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach at No. 20 and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater at No. 23.