US population growth slows as immigration declines, Census data shows

WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) – U.S. population growth has slowed to its lowest rate since the COVID-19 pandemic, in line with a historic drop in migration worldwide, federal government data released on Tuesday showed.

The United States saw an increase of just 1.8 million people, or 0.5%, to reach 341.8 million residents in the year ending June 2025, with every U.S. state except for Montana and West Virginia seeing their rate of population growth slow, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Globally, net international migration also slowed during the same 12-month period, falling to 1.3 million from 2.7 million, it added.

“With births and deaths remaining relatively stable compared to the prior year, the sharp decline in net international migration is the main reason for the slower growth rate we see today,” said Christine Hartley, assistant division chief for Estimates and Projections at the Census Bureau.

The data straddles the end of former Democratic President Joe Biden’s final six months in office and the first six months of his successor Republican U.S. President Donald Trump, who made cracking down on U.S. immigration a cornerstone of his campaign.

Trump and his administration are preparing to continue their crackdown on immigration in 2026 with a surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement funding even as the agency faces backlash over its tactics after U.S. agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota this month, among other shootings.

The full economic impact of a slowdown in population growth on the nation’s economy remains to be seen, but economists have noted that immigration actions have reduced labor supply in some industries, including construction.

South Carolina saw its population grow the fastest among the nation’s 50 states, followed by Idaho, North Carolina, Texas and Utah, according to the agency, which tracks U.S. population and other demographic data.

U.S. states that saw their populations decline were California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Vermont and West Virginia, it said.

Florida saw fewer people moving in from other U.S. states, with just 22,517 migrating there for the period ending in June compared to 183,646 in 2023 and 310,892 in 2022, the Census Bureau said.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; additional reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Aurora Ellis)