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For Immediate Release: Thursday, March 22, 2018

New Census Bureau Population Estimates Show Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Has Largest Growth in the United States

Press Release Number CB18-50

MARCH 22, 2018 — The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area’s 146,000-population increase last year was the most of any metro area and Maricopa County, Ariz., saw a population increase of nearly 74,000 — the most of any county last year — according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s July 1, 2017, population estimates released today. The statistics provide population estimates and components of change for the nation’s 382 metropolitan statistical areas, 551 micropolitan statistical areas and 3,142 counties.  

“Historically, the Dallas metro area attracts large numbers from both international and domestic migration. Many of the other largest metro areas in the country rely mostly on international migration and natural increase for growth,” said Molly Cromwell, a demographer at the Census Bureau. 

Among the nation’s counties, the top 10 with the largest numeric growth are all located in the South and the West. The 10 largest counties in the country all maintained their rank compared to last year.

From July 1, 2016, to July 1, 2017, six of the top 10 largest-gaining counties were in Texas — Bexar, Collin, Dallas, Denton, Harris and Tarrant. The remaining four counties on the list were Maricopa County, Ariz.; Clark County, Nev.; Riverside County, Calif.; and King County, Wash. Most of the nation’s 3,142 counties grew, with 57 percent gaining in the last year.

Counties

Gaining and losing population

  • Between 2016 and 2017, 1,790 counties (57.0 percent) gained population and 1,342 counties (42.7 percent) lost population. This compared to 2015-2016, when 1,655 counties (52.7 percent) gained population and 1,480 counties (47.1 percent) lost population.
  • Among counties with a population of 10,000 or more in 2016 and 2017, Falls Church City, Va. (a county equivalent), was the fastest-growing county with a 5.2 percent increase, adding 715 people. The rapid growth was mostly due to an increase in net domestic migration, with 492 more people moving in than out of the area between 2016 and 2017.
  • The primary driver behind the growth of the 10 fastest-growing counties, 2016-2017, was net domestic migration.

Natural Increase and Decrease

  • Between 2016 and 2017, 1,907 counties (60.7 percent) experienced natural increase, meaning there were more births than deaths. This compares to 2015-2016, when 1,942 counties (61.8 percent) experienced natural increase.
  • Also between 2016 and 2017, 1,200 counties (38.2 percent) experienced natural decrease, meaning more people died in the county than were born. This compares to 2015-2016 when 1,164 counties (37.0 percent) experienced natural decrease.

Net Migration

  • Between 2016 and 2017, the number of counties that showed a positive net migration was 1,661 (52.9 percent), meaning more people moved into the county than moved out, and 1,470 (46.8 percent) counties showed negative net migration, meaning more people moved out of the county than moved into the county.
  • Between 2015 and 2016, 1,469 counties (46.8 percent) showed positive net migration, and 1,660 counties (52.8 percent) showed negative net migration.

Metropolitan Areas

Growth

  • Many of the top 10 metro areas with the largest numeric increases in 2015-2016 were also in the top 10 in 2016-2017, with the following notable exceptions: Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-Va.-Md.-W.Va., climbed to 5th in 2017 from 11th in 2016, and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., jumped to 7th in 2017 from 13th in 2016.
  • In 2017, the Baltimore metro area was now the 20th most populous metro area, up from 21st place in 2016.
  • Net domestic migration is the driving factor behind all of the top 10 fastest-growing metro areas that rose in rank — St. George, Utah; Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Greely, Colo.; Lakeland, Fla.; and Boise, Idaho.

Decrease

  • Out of 382 metro areas, 87 (22.8 percent) saw population decreases between 2016 and 2017. 
  • The metro areas that dropped in rank within the top 10 fastest-growing metro areas, between 2016 and 2017, did so because of decreases in net domestic migration. Those areas are Bend-Redmond, Ore.; Provo-Orem, Utah; The Villages, Fla.; Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.; and Austin-Round Rock, Texas. 
  • The St. Louis, Mo.-Ill. metro area dropped out of the top 20 most populous metro areas and swapped places with Baltimore to its new 2017 standing of the 21st most populous area in the nation. In 1960, St Louis was the 9th largest metro area.   
  • A decrease in net domestic migration, meaning less of a gain from movement within the United States, was the primary factor in the Tampa metro area’s drop in rank from 7th in 2016 to 10th in 2017.
  • The metro area with the largest percentage decrease in population last year was Casper, Wyo., down by 1.7 percent.

Puerto Rico

  • The estimates show that Puerto Rico had an estimated population of 3.3 million in 2017, a decrease from 3.4 million in 2016. Puerto Rico’s population loss is attributed to a large migration of Puerto Ricans to the mainland United States.
  • All municipios in Puerto Rico decreased in population in 2015-2016 and 2016-2017.
  • The municipio with the largest numeric decrease between 2016 and 2017 was San Juan Municipio (-9,246; -2.7 percent), followed by Bayamón Municipio (-4,648; -2.5 percent), and Ponce Municipio (-4,140; -2.9 percent).
  • The municipio with the largest percentage decrease between 2016 and 2017 was Lares Municipio (-792; -3.0 percent), followed by Peñuelas Municipio (-628; -3.0 percent), and Guánica Municipio (-501; -3.0 percent).

Find more tables from this year’s release below.

Counties

Table 1

Top 10 Most Populous Counties: 2017
2017 Rank 2016 Rank County 2017 Population 2016 Population Numeric Change Percent Change
1 1 Los Angeles County, CA 10,163,507 10,150,558 12,949 0.1
2 2 Cook County, IL 5,211,263 5,231,356 -20,093 -0.4
3 3 Harris County, TX 4,652,980 4,617,041 35,939 0.8
4 4 Maricopa County, AZ 4,307,033 4,233,383 73,650 1.7
5 5 San Diego County, CA 3,337,685 3,317,200 20,485 0.6
6 6 Orange County, CA 3,190,400 3,177,703 12,697 0.4
7 7 Miami-Dade County, FL 2,751,796 2,736,543 15,253 0.6
8 8 Kings County, NY 2,648,771 2,650,859 -2,088 -0.1
9 9 Dallas County, TX 2,618,148 2,587,462 30,686 1.2
10 10 Riverside County, CA 2,423,266 2,386,522 36,744 1.5

Table 2

Top 10 Largest-Gaining Counties (Numeric Increase): 2016-2017
2017 Rank 2016 Rank County 2017 Population 2016 Population Numeric Change Percent Change
1 1 Maricopa County, AZ 4,307,033 4,233,383 73,650 1.7
2 3 Clark County, NV 2,204,079 2,156,724 47,355 2.2
3 6 Riverside County, CA 2,423,266 2,386,522 36,744 1.5
4 2 Harris County, TX 4,652,980 4,617,041 35,939 0.8
5 5 Tarrant County, TX 2,054,475 2,021,746 32,729 1.6
6 4 King County, WA 2,188,649 2,155,962 32,687 1.5
7 8 Bexar County, TX 1,958,578 1,927,747 30,831 1.6
8 7 Dallas County, TX 2,618,148 2,587,462 30,686 1.2
9 12 Denton County, TX 836,210 808,299 27,911 3.5
10 14 Collin County, TX 969,603 942,453 27,150 2.9

Table 3

Top 10 Fastest-Growing Counties (Percentage Increase): 2016-2017*
2017 Rank 2016 Rank County 2017 Population 2016 Population Percent Change Numeric Change
1 1473 Falls Church city, VA 14,583 13,868 5.2 715
2 7 Comal County, TX 141,009 134,142 5.1 6,867
3 5 Wasatch County, UT 32,106 30,571 5.0 1,535
4 1 Hays County, TX 214,485 204,345 5.0 10,140
5 2 Kendall County, TX 44,026 41,964 4.9 2,062
6 21 Walton County, FL 68,376 65,440 4.5 2,936
7 41 Tooele County, UT 67,456 64,599 4.4 2,857
8 44 Morgan County, UT 11,873 11,373 4.4 500
9 805 Lumpkin County, GA 32,873 31,528 4.3 1,345
10 9 Osceola County, FL 352,180 337,990 4.2 14,190

*Among counties with a population of 10,000 or more in 2016 and 2017.

Table 4

Top 10 Counties With Numeric Decrease: 2016-2017
2017 Rank 2016 Rank County 2017 Population 2016 Population Numeric Change Percent Change
1 1 Cook County, IL 5,211,263 5,231,356 -20,093 -0.4
2 2 Baltimore city, MD 611,648 616,958 -5,310 -0.9
3 5 Cuyahoga County, OH 1,248,514 1,253,454 -4,940 -0.4
4 7 St. Louis city, MO 308,626 313,144 -4,518 -1.4
5 10 Allegheny County, PA 1,223,048 1,227,553 -4,505 -0.4
6 71 Honolulu County, HI 988,650 992,761 -4,111 -0.4
7 6 Milwaukee County, WI 952,085 955,369 -3,284 -0.3
8 124 Anchorage Municipality, AK 294,356 297,376 -3,020 -1.0
9 3 Wayne County, MI 1,753,616 1,756,598 -2,982 -0.2
10 19 Kanawha County, WV 183,293 186,097 -2,804 -1.5

Table 5

Top 10 Counties by Percentage Decrease: 2016-2017*
2017 Rank 2016 Rank County 2017 Population 2016 Population Percent Change Numeric Change
1 219 Campbell County, WY 46,242 48,800 -5.2 -2,558
2 14 Martin County, KY 11,452 11,947 -4.1 -495
3 6 Geary County, KS 33,855 35,208 -3.8 -1,353
4 13 McDowell County, WV 18,456 19,139 -3.6 -683
5 54 Dimmit County, TX 10,418 10,784 -3.4 -366
6 5 Richland County, MT 11,039 11,408 -3.2 -369
7 21 Washita County, OK 11,134 11,474 -3.0 -340
8 4 Uintah County, UT 35,150 36,194 -2.9 -1,044
9 3 Beckham County, OK 21,793 22,432 -2.8 -639
10 17 Coahoma County, MS 23,154 23,820 -2.8 -666

*Among counties with a population of 10,000 or more in 2016 and 2017.

Metro Areas

Table 6

Top 10 Most Populous Metropolitan Areas: 2017
2017 Rank 2016 Rank Metropolitan Area 2017 Population 2016 Population
1 1 New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA 20,320,876 20,275,179
2 2 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA 13,353,907 13,328,261
3 3 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI 9,533,040 9,546,326
4 4 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 7,399,662 7,253,424
5 5 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX 6,892,427 6,798,010
6 6 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 6,216,589 6,150,681
7 7 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL 6,158,824 6,107,433
8 8 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD 6,096,120 6,077,152
9 9 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA 5,884,736 5,795,723
10 10 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH 4,836,531 4,805,942

Table 7

Top 10 Largest-Gaining Metropolitan Areas (Numeric Increase): 2016-2017
2017 Rank 2016 Rank Metropolitan Area 2017 Population 2016 Population Numeric Change
1 1 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 7,399,662 7,253,424 146,238
2 2 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX 6,892,427 6,798,010 94,417
3 3 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA 5,884,736 5,795,723 89,013
4 4 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ 4,737,270 4,648,498 88,772
5 11 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 6,216,589 6,150,681 65,908
6 6 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA 3,867,046 3,802,660 64,386
7 13 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA 4,580,670 4,523,653 57,017
8 8 Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL 2,509,831 2,453,333 56,498
9 9 Austin-Round Rock, TX 2,115,827 2,060,558 55,269
10 7 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL 3,091,399 3,036,525 54,874

Table 8

Top 10 Fastest-Growing Metropolitan Areas (Percentage Increase): 2016-2017
2017 Rank 2016 Rank Metropolitan Area 2017 Population 2016 Population Percent Change
1 9 St. George, UT 165,662 159,237 4.0
2 2 Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC-NC 464,165 447,793 3.7
3 4 Greeley, CO 304,633 294,243 3.5
4 3 Bend-Redmond, OR 186,875 180,675 3.4
5 15 Coeur d’Alene, ID 157,637 153,144 2.9
6 10 Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL 686,483 667,018 2.9
7 17 Boise City, ID 709,845 690,810 2.8
8 7 Provo-Orem, UT 617,675 601,478 2.7
9 8 Austin-Round Rock, TX 2,115,827 2,060,558 2.7
10 1 The Villages, FL 125,165 122,121 2.5

Micro Areas

Table 9

Top 10 Most Populous Micropolitan Areas: 2017
2017 Rank 2016 Rank Micropolitan Area 2017 Population 2016 Population
1 1 Claremont-Lebanon, NH-VT 216,537 216,458
2 2 Hilo, HI 200,381 198,681
3 3 Torrington, CT 182,177 183,097
4 6 Concord, NH 149,216 148,133
5 4 Ottawa-Peru, IL 149,037 149,657
6 5 Traverse City, MI 148,671 148,231
7 7 Pottsville, PA 142,569 143,335
8 8 Tupelo, MS 140,081 139,656
9 9 Eureka-Arcata-Fortuna, CA 136,754 136,449
10 11 Dunn, NC 132,754 130,899

Table 10

Top 10 Largest-Gaining Micropolitan Areas (Numeric Increase): 2016-2017
2017 Rank 2016 Rank Micropolitan Area 2017 Population 2016 Population Numeric Change
1 1 Bozeman, MT 107,810 104,072 3,738
2 9 Jefferson, GA 67,519 64,978 2,541
3 3 Kalispell, MT 100,000 97,693 2,307
4 5 Twin Falls, ID 108,751 106,793 1,958
5 11 Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC 97,264 95,392 1,872
6 2 Dunn, NC 132,754 130,899 1,855
7 4 Hilo, HI 200,381 198,681 1,700
8 20 Cookeville, TN 111,363 109,703 1,660
9 17 Shelton, WA 63,710 62,123 1,587
10 16 Centralia, WA 78,200 76,630 1,570

Table 11

Top 10 Fastest-Growing Micropolitan Areas (Percentage Increase): 2016-2017
2017 Rank 2016 Rank Micropolitan Area 2017 Population 2016 Population Percent Change
1 1 Heber, UT 32,106 30,571 5.0
2 6 Jefferson, GA 67,519 64,978 3.9
3 4 Bozeman, MT 107,810 104,072 3.6
4 3 Prineville, OR 23,123 22,344 3.5
5 7 Los Alamos, NM 18,738 18,152 3.2
6 42 Lewisburg, TN 32,931 31,973 3.0
7 17 Sandpoint, ID 43,560 42,343 2.9
8 2 Ellensburg, WA 46,205 44,928 2.8
9 53 Mountain Home, ID 26,823 26,090 2.8
10 48 Arcadia, FL 36,862 35,925 2.6

In the coming months, the Census Bureau will release 2017 population estimates for cities and towns, as well as national, state and county population estimates by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin.

To find out to what counties people are leaving from and moving into, visit the Census Flows Mapper. The mapper displays information from the American Community Survey, collected over five-year periods between 2006 and 2015.

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The Census Bureau develops county, metro area and micro area population estimates by measuring population change since the most recent census. The Census Bureau uses administrative records on births, deaths and migration to develop estimates of population. For more detail regarding the methodology, see <www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/technical-documentation/methodology.html>. 

The Office of Management and Budget’s statistical area delineations (for metro and micro areas) are those issued by that agency in July 2015. Metro areas contain at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more population, and micro areas contain at least one urban cluster of at least 10,000 (but less than 50,000) population. Both metro and micro areas consist of one or more whole counties or county equivalents. Some metro and micro area titles may be abbreviated in the text of the news release. Full titles are shown in the tables.

Contact


Frances Alonzo
Public Information Office
301-763-3030

Page Last Revised - December 16, 2021
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