The U.S. Census Bureau announced on Mar. 26 that population growth slowed in a majority 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 trend is significant as it highlights changing migration patterns and demographic shifts across the country. Slower growth was especially notable among some of the largest counties, which have traditionally relied on international migration for population increases.
Nearly eight out of ten counties that had grown from mid-2023 to mid-2024 saw their growth slow or reverse direction by mid-2025. The report notes that losses accelerated in many counties already experiencing decline. Among metropolitan areas, more than four out of five experienced slower growth compared to the previous year. The steepest declines were seen along the U.S.-Mexico border: Laredo, Texas; Yuma, Arizona; and El Centro, California all recorded significant drops in their annual growth rates.
Lower levels of net international migration (NIM) were cited as a major factor behind these trends. Nine out of ten U.S. counties experienced lower NIM between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025 than during the previous year. George M. Hayward, a Census Bureau demographer said: “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… With fewer gains from international migration, these types of counties saw their population growth diminish or even turn into loss.”
Geographically, many fast-growing counties were located along the southeast coast—including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia—while large metro areas continued to see redistribution from core urban centers toward outer edges or less populous regions.
Looking ahead, further demographic details by age group and race are scheduled for release later this year with embargoed data sets available for researchers prior to public publication.
