Since the Keihan Electric Railway and Nihon Jutaku Kodan (Japan Housing Urban Development Corporation) (present Urban Renaissance Agency) prepared housing sites, such as Kuzuha Rose Town and Otokoyama housing complex in Otokoyama area near Kuzuha Station of the Keihan Electric Railway (Hirakata City Osaka Prefecture) in and after the 1970's, the city became a commuter town for Osaka and thereby the population of the city almost doubled in a short term and surpassed that of Fukuchiyama City, Osaka Prefecture. (Now Fukuchiyama City is more populated than Yawata City.)
また、1970代以降、京阪電気鉄道樟葉駅（大阪府枚方市）に近い男山地区で、京阪電鉄や日本住宅公団（現・都市再生機構）などがくずはローズタウンや男山団地などの住宅を造成して、大阪市方面のベッドタウンとして人口が短期間で約2倍に増加し、同府の福知山市などを上回った（現在は再び福知山市が八幡市より人口が多くなっている）。