(NEXSTAR) – The U.S. saw a year of slow population growth between 2024 and 2025, but not every state is feeling the same slowdown, newly released estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show.
Nationally, between July 2024 and July 2025, the population increased by an estimated 1.8 million, a rate of just 0.5%, the Census Bureau announced Tuesday. That’s the slowest growth the U.S. has recorded since 2021’s rate of 0.2%. In 2024, the population grew by 1%, the fastest year-over-year growth since 2006, according to the agency.
Christine Hartley, assistant division chief for Estimates and Projections at the Census Bureau, said a “historic decline in net international migration” fueled last year’s slowdown.
Only Montana and West Virginia did not see their population growth slow or their population decline speed up. Meanwhile, the Midwest is the only region in which every state saw its population grow between 2024 and 2025.
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None was the fastest-growing, however.
That title belongs to South Carolina, which saw an estimated population increase of roughly 1.5%. An estimated growth of nearly 80,000 residents puts the state’s population at more than 5.57 million, according to the Census data, making it the 23rd largest state in the country.
The five fastest-growing states in the U.S. were:
- South Carolina: 1.46%
- Idaho: 1.44%
- North Carolina: 1.32%
- Texas: 1.25%
- Utah: 1.03%
In terms of raw population increase, it’s Texas that gained the most residents. Year-over-year, the Lone Star State’s population jumped more than 391,000 to a cumulative 31.7 million. Texas, which received more than 550,000 new residents from other states in 2024, remains the second-most populous state behind California.
Aerial panoramic skyline of Austin, Texas from Butler Metro Park with latest construction with view downriver. (Getty)
Since 2020, Texas’ population has grown by nearly 2.5 million, the most of any state. Florida was close behind with an estimated population increase of 1.87 million between 2020 and 2025.
From 2024 to 2025, Wisconsin’s population has grown by a rate of 0.26%.
The interactive map below shows the population increase – or decrease – of each state:
Several states saw their population decline between 2024 and 2025.
The fastest-declining among them was Vermont, where the Census found a population decrease of about 1,800 – a drop of 0.29%, year over year. Only five states saw a negative growth rate:
- Vermont: -0.29%
- Hawaii: -0.15%
- West Virginia: -0.07%
- New Mexico: -0.06%
- California: -0.02%
An increase of just over 1,000 kept New York from appearing on the same list.
California’s population dropped by more than 9,000 between 2024 and 2025, the largest drop of any state. The next-closest was Hawaii with a decrease of slightly more than 2,000.
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Since 2020, estimates from the Census Bureau show California’s population has decreased by more than 170,000, the largest drop in the nation. Six other states have also shrunk slightly in the last five years:
- New York: -119,835
- Illinois: -76,207
- Louisiana: -33,956
- West Virginia: -25,523
- Hawaii: -18,310
- Mississippi: -4,225
The difference for California was immigration, since the number of net immigrants who moved into the state dropped from 361,000 people in 2024 to 109,000 in 2025. Data released by the Census Bureau last week also showed California has lost the most residents to state-by-state migration – the largest chunk, roughly 77,000, moved to Texas.
The same report showed Vermont saw the fewest residents, about 15,000, move to a different state.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
