The U.S. Census Bureau announced on Mar. 26 that population growth slowed in most of the nation’s 3,143 counties and the District of Columbia between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025, according to its Vintage 2025 population estimates.
This slowdown is significant because it marks a shift in demographic trends across both urban and rural areas. The data show that nearly eight out of ten counties which grew between mid-2023 and mid-2024 saw their growth slow or even reverse by the following year.
According to the Census Bureau, lower levels of net international migration (NIM) were a major factor behind these changes. Nine out of ten U.S. counties experienced decreased NIM compared to the previous year, with no county seeing an increase in international migration gains.
Some of the country’s largest counties were especially affected by this trend. These populous areas typically had more births than deaths but lost residents through domestic migration—more people moving out than moving in from other parts of the country—and with reduced international arrivals as well, many faced slower growth or even decline. “The nation’s largest counties like those in the New York metro area are often international migration hubs, gaining large numbers of international migrants and losing people that move to other parts of the country via domestic migration,” explained George M. Hayward, a Census Bureau demographer. “With fewer gains from international migration, these types of counties saw their population growth diminish or even turn into loss.”
Geographically, much of the fastest county-level growth was seen along Florida’s southeast coast as well as Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia; nine out of ten fastest-growing larger counties were located in southern states.
Metro areas overall grew faster (0.6%) than micro areas (0.2%) or territories outside these regions (0.1%), but all three categories saw their rates drop by about half compared to last year’s figures due largely to reductions in NIM.
The report also highlights ongoing redistribution patterns: while America’s fifty most populous counties lost over six hundred thousand residents through net domestic migration collectively during this period, large and medium-sized less-populous counties recorded net gains.
The Census Bureau plans further releases including more detailed breakdowns by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin later this year.
