Southern Counties Experience Most Significant Population Changes, Says Census

New population data from the US Census Bureau show that, on average, counties in the South had the biggest drop in population from 2022 to 2023 compared to other parts of the country.

The drop was 0.56% in the South, 0.34% in the West, -0.02% in the Midwest, and -0.07% in the Northeast.

There were 10 counties in the South with 20,000 or more people that grew their populations the fastest. Six were in Texas (Kaufman, 7.6%; Rockwall, 6.5%; Liberty, 5.7%; Chambers, 5.0%; Comal, 5.0%; Ellis, 4.9%); two were in Georgia (Jackson, 5.5%; Dawson, 5.1%); and one was in South Carolina (Jasper, 4.9%) and Virginia (New Kent, 4.7%).

In the South, most counties grew faster in 2023 than they did in 2022. The change over a year was 0.56%, which was more than the 0.31% change the year before. The Census Bureau says that more people moved into about 67% of the counties in the region in 2023, up from 59% in 2022.

Overall, the West had the biggest drop in population in 2022, more than any other part of the country. However, in 2023, it fell behind the South. The average yearly change across the counties in the region was 0.34%, which was less than the 0.51% change seen the previous year.

From 2022 to 2023, 60% of all counties in the United States saw more people move into them, according to the Census Bureau. The change is more than the 52% of areas where the population grew between 2021 and 2022. From 2022 to 2023, the average change was 0.29%, which was more than the 0.17% change the year before.

“Areas that saw a lot of people leave the country during the pandemic, like the Midwest and Northeast, are now seeing more counties with population growth,” said Lauren Bowers, head of the Population Estimates Branch at the Census Bureau. “At the same time, county population growth is slowing down in western states like Idaho and Arizona.”

The Census Bureau says that from 2022 to 2023, more counties in the Midwest had population gains than losses. This was the first time since 2020 that more counties in the Midwest had population gains than losses. The average yearly change for counties in the region dropped from 0.09% to 0.02%.

With a loss of 0.07%, the Northeast had more than the Midwest, but not as much as the previous year, when it lost 0.24%.

Large and moderately big counties grew across the country on average, while small counties shrunk.

Other great things about the release:

Lassen County, CA, had the biggest drop in population (3.9%) in 2023 among counties with more than 20,000 people.
In 2023, eight of the ten counties with the highest population growth in the country were in Texas. Harris County, which had the highest growth, was the biggest of these counties.
Los Angeles County, California, had the biggest drop in population in 2023, also due to fewer people moving there from other parts of the state.