Florida was nation's fastest growing state this year, says U.S. Census Bureau

Florida was the fastest-growing state from July 1, 2021, to July 1, 2022, with its population increasing by 1.9 percent, according to a report issued Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Florida had an estimated 22,244,823 residents as of July 1, up from 21,828,069 a year earlier.

“While Florida has often been among the largest-gaining states, this was the first time since 1957 that Florida has been the state with the largest percent increase in population,” Kristie Wilder, a demographer in the population division of the Census Bureau, said in a prepared statement.

While topping states in percentage increases, Florida also had the second-largest increase in raw numbers of residents.

Its 416,754 increase trailed only Texas’ 470,708 increase. Florida continued to have the third-largest population in the country, behind California and Texas. Texas’ population grew by 1.6 percent, to 30,029,572, during the one-year period, while California’s population declined by 0.3 percent to 39,029,342.

Other states with the largest percentage increases during the year were Idaho at 1.8 percent; South Carolina at 1.7 percent; and South Dakota and Montana, at 1.5 percent.

States with the largest percentage decreases were New York at 0.9 percent; Illinois and Louisiana at 0.8 percent; West Virginia at 0.6 percent; and Hawaii at 0.5 percent.