JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida’s population has grown faster than any other state since 2020, according to the Vintage 2024 Population Estimates released on Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
From July 1, 2020, to July 1, 2024, Florida’s population increased by 8.24%. Idaho was right behind the Sunshine State with an 8.23% increase, followed by Texas with a 7.02% increase, the new data estimates show.
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From 2023 to 2024, Florida’s estimated population increased by 467,347 people and was second only to Texas, which gained 562,941.
In contrast, the estimated national population increased 2.57%— to 340.11 million — from 2020 to 2024.
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As of July 1, 2024, Florida was home to 23,372,215 residents, according to the U.S. Census estimates.
Florida’s growth has been attributed to two key issues in the Census Bureau data: international migration and population increases in the South.
A news release accompanying data from 2023 to 2024 said net international migration “was the critical demographic component of change driving growth in the (U.S.) resident population. With a net increase of 2.8 million people, it accounted for 84% of the nation’s 3.3 million increase in population between 2023 and 2024.
But some say President Donald Trump’s and Governor Ron DeSantis’ immigration crackdown may impact future projections.
In February, members of Florida’s Demographic Estimating Conference met to adopt a new population forecast. However, they decided not to make any updates to their model because of “emerging and evolving changes” to federal and state immigration policies.
Conference members said in an executive summary that they expected that both federal and state immigration policies would “exert downward pressure” on the population projections for Florida, the third most populous state in the United States.
While most states experienced growth from 2020 to 2024, seven states had a population decline. These states include California, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York and West Virginia.
However, some of those states, like California and Illinois, regained some of their population and grew from 2023 to 2024.