The U.S. population grew by nearly 1.0 per cent between 2023 and 2024, according to the new Vintage 2024 population estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.
As the nation’s population surpasses 340 million, this is the fastest annual population growth the nation has seen since 2001 — a notable increase from the record low growth rate of 0.2 per cent in 2021.
The growth was primarily driven by rising net international migration.
Net international migration, which refers to any change of residence across U.S. borders (the 50 states and the District of Columbia), was the critical demographic component of change driving growth in the resident population.
A net increase of 2.8 million people accounted for 84 per cent of the nation’s 3.3 million increase in population between 2023 and 2024. This reflects a continued trend of rising international migration, with a net increase of 1.7 million in 2022 and 2.3 million in 2023.
“Improved integration of federal data sources on immigration has enhanced our estimates methodology,” said Christine Hartley, assistant division chief for Estimates and Projections.
Hartley added, “With this update, we can better understand how the recent increase in international migration is impacting the country’s overall population growth.”
The natural increase also contributed to the population growth, as births outnumbered deaths by nearly 519,000 between 2023 and 2024.
This marks an increase from the historic low in 2021 when the natural increase was just over 146,000, but it was still well below the highs in prior decades.
“An annual growth rate of 1.0 per cent is higher than what we’ve seen over recent years but well within historical norms,” said Kristie Wilder, a demographer in the Census Bureau’s Population Division.
Wilder noted that what “stands out is the diminishing role of natural increase over the last five years, as net international migration has become the primary driver of the nation’s growth.”
Meanwhile, the voting-age resident population (age 18 and over) grew to nearly 267 million, representing 78.5 per cent of the population and the number of U.S. children (ages 0 to 17) declined by 0.2 per cent from 73.3 million in 2023 to 73.1 million in 2024.
