The U.S. Census Bureau announced on Thursday, December 19, 2024, that the population growth rate in the United States reached its highest level in 23 years, surpassing 340 million residents, with immigration as the main driving force behind this surge.
According to the Associated Press, the Census Bureau’s estimates for the year showed a population growth rate of nearly 1%, the highest since 2001, sharply contrasting with the historical low of 0.2% set in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic when travel to the U.S. was restricted.
The increase in the immigrant population this year was nearly 2.8 million, partly due to new statistical methods that accounted for humanitarian admissions. Of the 3.3 million people added to the population between 2023 and 2024, international immigrants accounted for 84% of the net increase.
In the period from 2023 to 2024, births in the U.S. exceeded deaths by nearly 519,000, showing an improvement from the historical low of 146,000 in 2021, but still significantly lower than peaks seen in previous decades.
William Frey, a demographer at the renowned Brookings Institution, stated in an email to the Associated Press that immigrants have had significant impacts not only on the nation as a whole but also on individual states. In all 16 states experiencing population growth, this growth was driven by immigrant numbers. Otherwise, these states would have seen declines in population due to residents moving out or deaths exceeding births.
Just like in the entire 2020s decade, the South remained the fastest-growing region in the U.S. in 2024, adding 1.8 million residents, surpassing all other regions combined. Texas saw the largest increase with 562,941 new residents, followed by Florida with 467,347. The District of Columbia had the fastest growth rate at 2.2%, leading the nation in population growth.
Three states experienced population decreases this year, including Mississippi, Vermont, and West Virginia, but the declines were minimal, ranging from 127 to 516 individuals.
After a decade of declining populations, both California and New York saw population increases in 2024, adding 232,570 and 129,881 residents respectively, primarily due to increased immigration.
The number of children in the U.S. declined from 73 million in 2023 to 73.1 million in 2024.
Among the groups included in the estimates of international immigrants are those who entered the U.S. for humanitarian reasons, with many arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border seeking asylum and undergoing processing.
The Census Bureau estimated that 1.1 million immigrants entered the U.S. in 2023, while the Congressional Budget Office projected 3.3 million arrivals. Using revised statistical methods, the Census Bureau recalculated the 2023 immigration figure to be nearly 2.3 million, an increase of over 1.1 million from the original estimate.