About 40% of U.S. counties lost population between July 2024 and July 2025, as a sharp decline in immigration slowed national growth and reversed gains in many regions, according to new Census Bureau data.
The U.S. population grew by 1.8 million over the period, reaching roughly 342 million, but that marked the slowest increase since the COVID-19 pandemic. The Census Bureau attributed the slowdown "largely" to a drop in net international migration, which fell by more than 50% compared with the previous year — the steepest decline since 2020.
