How Virginia changed during the pandemic

Turns out more people did move here during the pandemic, just not necessarily to the city of Richmond, new census data shows.

Driving the news: New U.S. Census Bureau population estimates were released last week, providing detailed information on a county-by-county level.

• Virginia gained about 10,000 new residents between July 2020 and July 2021.
• And population shifted in nearly every corner of the state as work-from-home, housing shortages and the global pandemic changed the way we live.

What’s happening: Nearly all of Southwest Virginia lost population, while Central Virginia, particularly the rural counties, saw some of the state’s largest population increases:

• Powhatan’s population grew by 2.3%.
• Goochland’s grew by 2.7%.
• And New Kent grew by a whopping 3.5% — the largest population increase in the state (by percentage — it literally added only like 800 people).

Meanwhile: Richmond’s population remained relatively flat. Henrico lost around 700 people (I’d check New Kent for them), and Chesterfield just keeps growing, adding around 5,000 new residents in that 12-month period.

Of note: Virginia also got more diverse during the pandemic. Nearly every category of race and ethnicity added population between 2020 and 2021, except white people, who declined by 0.5%.

Yes, but: The state’s population is 69% white.