Kate Anderson on December 23, 2022
NEW YORK, NY – A report released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau shows significant growth for southern red states and significant declines for blue states such as New York and California.
According to the census report, the U.S. population increased by 1.2 million inhabitants between 2021 and 2022. Only the southern and western U.S. showed positive growth, with the South increasing by 1.1%, or 1,370,163 residents, while the western side added 153,601 people.
Texas had the largest increase out of all 50 states with over 400,000 people coming to the Lone Star State. Florida, however, held the title of the fastest-growing state, according to the report.
“Florida was the fastest-growing state in 2022, with an annual population increase of 1.9%, resulting in a total resident population of 22,244,823,” the data showed. “It was also the second largest-gaining state behind Texas, with an increase of 416,754 residents.”
Blue states, however, suffered heavy losses during the past year, according to the report. New York lost over 180,000 residents in 2021-2022 and California and Illinois lost over 100,000 each.
In May, the bureau released data showing similar downward trends for cities in blue states. New York City lost 3.5%, San Francisco 6.3%, and Chicago 1.6% between July 2020 and July 2021.
Job growth potentially played a role in the exodus from many states. In August, Republican states added 341,000 jobs with blue states falling short by 1.3 million jobs post-pandemic.
Births also increased over the past year with the positive natural change, or “births minus deaths,” equaling 245,080.
“There was a sizeable uptick in population growth last year compared to the prior year’s historically low increase,” said Kristie Wilder, a demographer in the Population Division at the Census Bureau, said in the report. “A rebound in net international migration, coupled with the largest year-over-year increase in total births since 2007, is behind this increase.”
Census Data Shows Americans Fleeing Blue States For The Sun Belt
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