The report shows the D-FW metro added over 152,000 new residents during the one-year period. The growth is equivalent to the population of Mesquite, a suburb about 20 miles east of Dallas.
D-FW’s population, which has surpassed a total population of over 8.1 million residents, includes Arlington, home of the MLB World Series Champs, Texas Rangers.
Houston came in a close second behind D-FW, adding nearly 140,000 new residents over the same period, pushing its total population to over 7.5 million over the same period.
A third Texas metro area made the list, along with metro areas in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina.
In addition to population growth, the report showed Florida was home to four out of five of the fastest-growing U.S. metro areas.
Wildwood-The Villages saw the highest rate of growth at 4.7 percent, followed by Lakeland-Winter at 3.8 percent. Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach in South Carolina earned the third spot with 3.7 percent.
Ocala, Florida, ranked fourth, followed by Port St. Lucie, Florida, at 3.4 and 3.1 percent, respectively.
The greatest population loss numerically was in Los Angeles, California, which is the nation’s most populous county and home to more than 9.6 million residents.
The county saw a “population decline of 56,420 in 2023, compared to a loss of 89,697 people in 2022,” the report said, adding that “both drops stemmed from negative domestic migration.”
Top Counties for Growth
Texas counties took eight of the top 10 spots for the most new residents over the one-year period.Harris County, which encompasses Houston and surrounding areas, led the way with a net gain of 53,000 residents. Followed by Collin County, north of Dallas, which attracted over 36,000 people. Montgomery County ranked third with a gain of nearly 32,000 residents.
Maricopa County, Arizona, and Polk County, Florida, rounded out the top five counties with the highest net gains of residents at 30,038 and 29,948, respectively.
The Census Bureau’s data is based on net population gains, which accounts for the number of people who move into an area minus those who moved out, as well as births and deaths.
Lauren Bowers, chief of the Census Bureau’s Population Estimates branch, said that the counties that experienced high losses of residents during the pandemic are now experiencing gains.
Regional Gains and Losses
Regionally, it was the “first time since 2020 that more counties in the Midwest had population gains (542) than losses (513), narrowing the average change among the region’s 1,055 counties to a loss of 0.02 percent from a loss of 0.09%” in 2022.Counties in the South grew fastest at .56 percent in 2023, up from .31 percent in 2022.
“Approximately 96% of Florida’s counties grew (and only three counties lost population) from 2022 to 2023,” reads the report.
The Northeast saw more population losses (113) than gains (105) among its counties compared to the previous year. The average percent change in 2023 was -.07 percent compared to -.24 percent in 2022.
The highest average annual change among the four regions was in the West, which slowed from .51 to .34 percent.
“Of the counties with a population above 20,000, Lassen County, California, experienced the biggest (3.9%) decrease in 2023,” the data showed. Lassen County sits about 200 miles northeast of Sacramento.
International Migration Growth
Eighty percent, or 2,515, of the nation’s 3,143 counties “had positive international migration in 2023,” according to the report.Miami-Dade County, Florida, experienced the largest net gain of 54,457 migrants, followed by Harris County, Texas, with 41,665.
“All counties in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island experienced net international migration,” the data showed.
