State Population Changes Reported by US Census Bureau
A new report from the US Census Bureau shows state population decreases in nine states. The states that lost population from July 2017 to July 2018 are New York (down 48,510), Illinois (45,116), West Virginia (11,216), Louisiana (10,840), Hawaii (3,712), Mississippi (3,133), Alaska (2,348), Connecticut (1,215) and Wyoming (1,197).
Puerto Rico saw a significant decrease in population 129,848 people or 3.9% over the same time period. Hurricane Maria's strike in September 2017 was one factor the Census Bureau gave as a reason for the decrease - although it acknowledged that “Puerto Rico has seen a steady decline in population over the last decade.”
Nevada and Idaho saw the largest percentage increases (2.1 percent). Close behind were Utah (1.9 percent), Arizona (1.7 percent), and Florida and Washington (1.5 percent each). A chart of the top 10 state by percentage increase is provided below:
Three of the largest states by population - Florida, Texas and North Carolina were on the list of top 10 percentage increase.
When reviewing the largest increase by number, the chart changes a bit. Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Texas, Nevada, Washington, North and South Carolina remain on the list with Georgia (largest state by land mass east of the Mississippi River) and California (largest state by population) added to the list. The smaller states of Idaho and Utah dropped off. Texas, Florida and California led the list of largest population increase by number with the full detail provided below:
Next year the Census Bureau will provide estimates of the 2018 population for counties, cities/towns, and metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs).
Resource:
Census Bureau Data Sets:
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