U.S. population growth sputters as immigration stalls
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The U.S. population grew just 0.5% from July 2024 to July 2025, per new Census Bureau estimates, adding 1.8 million people.
Why it matters: That's the slowest rate since the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the population grew by an anemic 0.2%.
What they're saying: Census assistant division chief Christine Hartley: The slowdown "is largely due to a historic decline in net international migration, which dropped from 2.7 million to 1.3 million."
- Births and deaths, meanwhile, remained "relatively stable."
Between the lines: The numbers offer some insight into the effects of President Trump's immigration crackdown, though it's an incomplete view.
- Because of the time period covered, they capture only the first few months of Trump's second term — reflecting his early immigration efforts, but not more recent surges, such as in Minnesota.
Reality check: The slowdown comes after a year of breakneck gains; the U.S. population grew by 1% (3.2 million people) from 2023-2024.
- That was the fastest growth rate since 2006, the Bureau notes.
Zoom in: The fastest-growing states were South Carolina (+1.5%, fueled largely by domestic migration), Idaho (+1.4%) and North Carolina (+1.3%).
- Honorable mention: Texas (+1.2%), which "grew rapidly from a combination of natural change and net international migration, despite a sharp slowdown in gains from the latter," the Bureau says. ("Natural change" is births minus deaths.)
- Shrinking states: California, Hawai'i, New Mexico, Vermont and West Virginia.
Editor's note: The chart has been updated to reflect the U.S. Census National Intercensal data sets for 2015-2025.
