Survey: Some Metro Areas That Lost Population During Covid Are Bouncing Back

Population growth in U.S. metro areas as a whole was faster between 2023 and 2024 than in the previous year and outpaced that of the nation. Additionally, some metro areas that experienced population declines during the COVID-19 pandemic are now observing population gains, according to Vintage 2024 estimates of population totals and components of change released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Percent Change in County Populations

“Increasingly, population growth in metro areas is being shaped by international migration,” said Kristie Wilder, a demographer in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. “While births continue to contribute to overall growth, rising net international migration is offsetting the ongoing net domestic outmigration we see in many of these areas.”

All of the nation’s 387 metro areas had positive net international migration between 2023 and 2024, and it accounted for nearly 2.7 million of the total population gain in metro areas — up from 2.2 million between 2022 and 2023. These trends were measured using an improved method that combines survey data and administrative data from other federal agencies.

The Population Estimates Program uses current data on births, deaths and migration to calculate population change since the most recent decennial census (2020 Census) and produce an annual time series of estimates of population. Today’s release includes population totals and components of change for U.S. counties and metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, and total population for Puerto Rico municipios and metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas. Tables are available on <census.gov/popest>.

Key Takeaways

• Between 2023 and 2024, the number of people living in a U.S. metro area increased by nearly 3.2 million (or around 1.1%) to 293.9 million. In comparison, the total U.S. population increased by nearly 1.0% to more than 340 million people.
• The population in metro areas also grew faster from 2023 to 2024 than between 2022 and 2023 (when it increased by 0.9% or 2.6 million people) largely due to higher levels of net international migration.
• The population in nearly 90% (341 of 387) of U.S. metro areas grew from 2023 to 2024, up from 317 between 2022 and 2023.
• The collective increase in population across metro areas was largely attributable to net international migration — approximately 2.7 million, with an additional 0.6 million from natural increase (excess of births over deaths).
• Some metro areas that experienced population declines earlier in the decade, such as New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA, experienced population gains from 2023 to 2024.