Immigration Is Main Driver Of Population Growth in U.S.

Immigrants are having a huge impact on the nation’s population growth, new federal estimates show.

- Jon Kamp, Paul Overberg, and Max Rust

Newcomers accounted for 84% of U.S. growth in the year ended June 30, the Census Bureau said Thursday, continuing a trend since the Covid-19 pandemic. This was fueled by a surge in legal and illegal arrivals, a falling birthrate and a death rate propped up by an aging population.

The Census Bureau estimates include major revisions to earlier estimates that are intended to better capture a surge in immigration. The bureau estimates about 2.7 million net arrivals for the most recent year. The bureau also more than doubled its net immigration estimate for the prior year to about 2.3 million.

The agency now estimates the U.S. grew by 8.5 million over the past four years, with immigrants accounting for the vast majority.

For the most recent year, through June 30, the bureau estimates that the U.S. population grew by about 1% to 340.1 million. This is the fastest growth since 2001, the bureau said.

Much of this growth came in states such as Texas (563,000) and Florida (467,000). Only three states were estimated to have lost population, and just barely: Vermont, West Virginia and Mississippi. The South accounted for 54% of the latest year's growth.

The bureau's numbers are the latest data point for federal agencies, economists and demographers who are trying to measure how newcomers are boosting the population and adding to the nation's workforce.