The U.S. population growth experienced a significant uptick in 2024, primarily driven by immigration, which surged at the fastest pace in 23 years, exceeding 340 million residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The growth rate for this year reached 1%, marking the steepest increase since 2001. This is a stark contrast to the historic low of 0.2% recorded in 2021 during the strict pandemic travel restrictions. The annual estimates reveal that immigration contributed nearly 2.8 million people to the population, benefiting from a new counting method that includes individuals approved for humanitarian purposes. Net international migration was responsible for a remarkable 84% of the total 3.3 million increase in residents from 2023 to 2024.
In terms of natural growth, the U.S. witnessed around 519,000 more births than deaths from 2023 to 2024. While there’s an improvement compared to the unprecedented low of 146,000 in 2021, this figure remains significantly lower than the peaks seen in earlier decades.
The effects of immigration have been felt not only on a national scale but also at the state level, with 16 states experiencing population growth solely due to immigration, which offset potential declines from out-migration or deaths outpacing births. William Frey, a demographic expert from The Brookings Institution, emphasized that while the increase in humanitarian and asylum-seeking entries played a role, these trends illustrate immigration’s critical role in supporting population growth across many regions that would otherwise be stagnant or declining.
Throughout the 2020s, the South has continued to be the most rapidly expanding region in the United States, witnessing the addition of 1.8 million new residents, which is more than all other regions combined. Texas saw the largest number of new residents at 562,941, followed closely by Florida, which gained 467,347 new residents. Meanwhile, the District of Columbia showcased the highest growth rate at 2.2%.
Conversely, three states—Mississippi, Vermont, and West Virginia—experienced slight population losses this year, with declines ranging from 127 to 516 individuals.
The international migration figures now include those entering the U.S. under humanitarian parole, a policy upheld by both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations for over seventy years. According to the Migration Policy Institute, more than 5.8 million individuals were allowed entry to the U.S. through various humanitarian measures from 2021 to 2024.
Collecting accurate data on new immigrants presents a considerable challenge for the Census Bureau’s annual population estimates. This year’s change in methodology coincides with a period marked by the anticipated return of President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged extensive deportations of undocumented individuals.
Historically, the Census Bureau’s estimates for migrants entering the country in the 2020s have been lower than figures reported by other federal agencies like the Congressional Budget Office, which suggested 3.3 million entrants compared to the Census Bureau’s 1.1 million for 2023. Following the methodology update, last year’s total has been reassessed to 2.3 million, indicating an increase of 1.1 million.
Traditionally, the Bureau’s surveys relied on data from individuals residing in households, which often excluded significant numbers of immigrants arriving for humanitarian reasons. This hasn’t fully captured the growing number of asylum seekers processed at the U.S.-Mexico border from various countries, as highlighted by demographer Jennifer Van Hook from Penn State, who participated in the methodological updates.
These population estimates serve as the official counts between the decennial census, providing vital data used for the allocation of federal funding that impacts various programs across the nation.