Austin's population boomed during the pandemic
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Austin had the greatest increase in population among the 50 most populous metros in the nation during the pandemic period, per new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Why it matters: Not even a seismic disruption like COVID could stop Austin's meteoric growth.
Driving the news: The number of people living in U.S. metro areas rose by almost 3.2 million between 2023 and 2024, the Census Bureau said this week — a gain of about 1.1%.
Zoom in: The greater Austin area grew from 2.3 million people in 2020 to 2.55 million in 2024, a nearly 11% increase.
Yes, but: The influx of high-end earners, many drawn to Austin during the remote-work revolution early in the pandemic, exacerbated Austin's affordability crisis, pushing middle-class families to suburbs like Buda and Pflugerville.
The big picture: Some metros hit hardest by pandemic population loss, like New York, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco — grew between 2023 and 2024, though some are still down relative to 2020, as seen above.
- Austin gained nearly 60,000 residents between 2023 and 2024.
Between the lines: International migration lies behind this latest population spike.
- "All of the nation's 387 metro areas had positive net international migration between 2023 and 2024, and it accounted for nearly 2.7 million of the total population gain in metro areas," the bureau said in a statement accompanying the new data.
- About 70,000 of Austin's new residents between 2020 and 2024 were people from abroad and 130,000 moved to Austin from within the U.S.
How it works: The bureau bases these estimates on current data for births, deaths and migration, all of which affect overall population.
What's next: Demographers and other researchers will be keeping a close eye on how Trump administration policies might affect immigration levels.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to show Austin had the biggest increase in population among the 50 most populous metros (not all metros).