Harris County poised to become 2nd most populous county
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Harris County is on track to becoming the nation's second-largest county, according to newly released U.S. Census Bureau data.
By the numbers: As of July 1, 2024, Harris County's population reached 5 million — just 173,000 shy of the 5.2 million people who live in Cook County in Illinois.
- Los Angeles County is the largest, with 9.8 million people.
Why it matters: We're big and getting bigger — Harris County led the nation in growth, adding about 106,000 residents between July 2023 and July 2024.
The big picture: America's metros are growing faster than the country overall, driven largely by international immigration, per the U.S. Census Bureau.
- Metro Houston's population grew to nearly 7.8 million as of July 2024, adding more than 198,000 people in a year — 128,135 from international immigration.
What they're saying: "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.
When looking at total Houston metro growth since the pandemic, Houston grew by a whopping 646,000 people from April 2020 to July 2024.
- 463,000 people came from combined domestic and international migration.
Zoom out: Some metros hit hardest by pandemic population loss — think New York, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco — grew between 2023 and 2024, though others are still down relative to 2020.
What's next: Demographers and other researchers will be keeping a close eye on how Trump administration policies might affect immigration levels.
Go deeper: Houston suburbs continue to boom