JAN. 27, 2026 — Population growth in the United States has slowed significantly with an increase of only 1.8 million, or 0.5%, between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025, according to the new Vintage 2025 population estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

This was the nation’s slowest population growth since the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the population grew by a historically low 0.2% in 2021. The slowdown also comes after a sizeable uptick of growth in 2024, when the country added 3.2 million people and grew by 1.0%, the fastest annual population growth rate since 2006.

“The slowdown in U.S. population growth is largely due to a historic decline in net international migration, which dropped from 2.7 million to 1.3 million in the period from July 2024 through June 2025,” said Christine Hartley, assistant division chief for Estimates and Projections at the Census Bureau. “With births and deaths remaining relatively stable compared to the prior year, the sharp decline in net international migration is the main reason for the slower growth rate we see today.”

Slower population growth was felt across the country. All four census regions and every state except Montana and West Virginia saw their growth slow, or their decline accelerate.

The Midwest was the only region where all states gained population from July 2024 to July 2025. In addition, after experiencing population decline in 2021 and small growth in 2022, the Midwest’s population grew solidly in 2023 (259,938), 2024 (386,231), and 2025 (244,385). Slight gains in natural change (births minus deaths) for some of the states in the Midwest contributed to their population growth.

“From July 2024 through June 2025, the Midwest also saw positive net domestic migration for the first time this decade,” said Marc Perry, senior demographer at the Census Bureau. “And while the net domestic migration was a relatively modest 16,000, this is still a notable turnaround from the substantial domestic migration losses in 2021 and 2022 of -175,000 or greater.”

Ohio (net domestic migration of 11,926 in 2025, compared to -32,482 in 2021) and Michigan (net domestic migration of 1,796 in 2025, compared to -28,290 in 2021) exemplify this emerging trend.

Fueled by a sizeable net domestic migration increase of 66,622, South Carolina’s population grew by 79,958 between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025. The increase of 1.5% was the highest of any state and was down somewhat from its 1.8% increase in 2024. Idaho (1.4%) and North Carolina (1.3%) followed closely, with their growth also driven by domestic migration gains. Texas (1.2%) grew rapidly from a combination of natural change and net international migration, despite a sharp slowdown in gains from the latter. Utah (1.0%) grew mainly from natural change, as net international migration — the largest contributor to its growth last year — slowed.

• Between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025, the U.S. population grew by 1.8 million (or 0.5%) to reach 341.8 million.
• The U.S. population grew at a much slower rate between July 2024 and July 2025 than from 2023 to 2024 (when it increased by 1.0%, or 3.2 million people). The slowdown is largely due to lower levels of net international migration.
• Between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, net international migration was 1.3 million, a notable drop from 2.7 million the year before (a decline of 53.8%). If current trends continue, net international migration is projected to be approximately 321,000 by July 2026, representing another decline of nearly 1 million since July 1, 2025. Details are available in the Random Samplings blog, New Population Estimates Show Historic Decline in Net International Migration.
• Natural change for the nation neared 519,000 between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, roughly the same as the prior year. Although higher than the levels observed during the pandemic earlier this decade, this still represents a significant decline from prior decades. In 2017, natural change was about 1.1 million, and during the 2000-to-2010 decade, it ranged between 1.6 million and 1.9 million.

• All four U.S regions saw population growth between July 2024 and July 2025, albeit at a slower rate than in recent years.
• The South saw population growth drop below 1.0% for the first time since 2021, from 1.4% growth between 2023 and 2024 to 0.9% growth between July 2024 and July 2025. The Northeast saw the largest decline in growth, from 0.8% growth between 2023 and 2024 to 0.2% between July 2024 to July 2025.

• All but five U.S. states grew between July 2024 and July 2025. States that experienced population decline were California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Vermont and West Virginia.
• Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia had positive natural change (births outnumbered deaths) between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, up slightly from 32 states and the District of Columbia in the prior year. However, this figure is significantly higher than from 2021, when 24 states and the District of Columbia had positive natural change.
• Like the nation, every state and the District of Columbia had lower net international migration from July 2024 through June 2025 compared to the prior year, but the levels remained positive. Florida (178,674), Texas (167,475), California (109,278), and New York (95,634) had the highest levels of net international migration from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025.
• Thirty-one states had positive net domestic migration between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, up slightly from 27 states the prior year. Of note, Florida’s net domestic migration (22,517 in 2025) was down sharply from 2023 (183,646) and 2022 (310,892). While Florida has often ranked at or near the top state for net domestic migration, in 2025, it ranked 8th. Neighboring Alabama (23,358) had higher net domestic migration than Florida from July 2024 through June 2025.

Refer to the bottom of the release for tables on the Top 10 Most Populous States: 2025; Top 10 States by Numeric Growth: 2024 to 2025; and Top 10 States by Percent Growth: 2024 to 2025. 

• Puerto Rico’s population declined by 17,686 to 3.2 million between July 2024 and July 2025, a drop of 0.6% from the prior year. The island has experienced an annual decline in population nearly every year since 2005.
• The main driver of Puerto Rico’s population change was negative natural change, with deaths (32,857) nearly twice as high as the number of births (17,950) between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, a trend that has been consistent since 2020. The island also experienced a negative net migration of 2,779; this reversed the positive net migration (14,425) from the prior year.

The most recent net international migration estimates reflect methodological improvements, which include the incorporation of additional administrative data at the subnational level and adjustments to the short-term projection method, which is evident in the national level monthly population totals. Details are available in the Random Samplings blog, “New Population Estimates Show Historic Decline in Net International Migration.”

The Population Estimates Program uses current data on births, deaths, and migration to calculate population change since the most recent decennial census (2020 Census) and produces an annual time series of estimates of population. Today’s release includes population totals, components of change, and voting-age population for the nation, 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

In March, the Census Bureau is scheduled to release estimates of the July 1, 2025, population totals and components of change for U.S. metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas and counties and population totals for Puerto Rico municipios. The data will be embargoed. The full release schedule for the Population Estimates Program can be found on the Census Bureau’s website.

With each new release of annual estimates, the entire time series of estimates is revised for all years back to the date of the last census. All previously published estimates (i.e., old vintages) are superseded and archived on the FTP2 site. Due to periodic methodological updates, year-to-year comparisons in the estimates should only be done within the same vintage.