It's becoming more popular in my opinion because it seems there's more and more anime shows popping up and I go to a small religious school and out of like 400 kids my friends and I like anime, and I know another kid or two outside our friend group who does, and there are kids who know about it but are not fans of it.
ps: hot topic promotes may as anime month, there's several american geek-y or videogame stores that usually carry anime merch