MAY 15, 2025 – Cities of all sizes grew on average from 2023 to 2024 with Southern and Western cities experiencing accelerated growth. Topping the list of fastest-growing cities was Princeton, Texas with a remarkable 30.6% growth rate, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Vintage 2024 estimates released today. New York City, Houston and Los Angeles saw the greatest numeric gains during this time and some cities in the Northeast and Midwest marked their first population increase in recent years.

“Many population growth rates reversed or saw major changes between 2023 and 2024,” said Crystal Delbé, a statistician in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. “Cities in the Northeast that had experienced population declines in 2023 are now experiencing significant population growth, on average. In fact, cities of all sizes, in all regions, showed faster growth and larger gains than in 2023, except for small cities in the South, whose average population growth rate remained the same.”

Population Growth in Regions

In 2024, the Northeast experienced population growth after years of steady decline, with rates ranging from an average growth of 0.1% in cities and towns with fewer than 5,000 people (a shift from the 0.3% average decline in 2023) to 1.0% average growth in cities with populations of 50,000 or more — five times higher than their growth rate during 2023.

The Midwest showed modest population growth, with average rates varying by population size. Places with fewer than 5,000 residents saw an average growth of 0.1%. Those with populations between 5,000 and 9,999 recorded a 0.6% average increase, while cities and towns with 10,000 to 49,999 residents grew by an average of 0.7% — the same rate observed in places with populations of 50,000 or more.

The South experienced the highest average population growth of any region. Cities and towns in the South with populations between 5,000 and 9,999 residents experienced the highest average increase of 1.6%. Those with populations ranging from 10,000 to 49,999 also saw an average growth rate at 1.6%. In contrast, places with population below 5,000 recorded a much lower average growth of 0.6%.

The West also showed population growth, where cities and towns with fewer than 5,000 people saw a modest average increase of 0.5%, while larger cities and towns with populations between 10,000 and 49,999 recorded an average growth rate of 1.0% — the same rate observed in places with 50,000 or more residents.

Across the nation, cities with populations fewer than 5,000 grew by 0.3% on average, compared with average growth rates of 1.0% for those with populations of 5,000 to 9,999; 1.1% for those with populations of 10,000 to 49,999; and 1.0% for those with populations of 50,000 or more.

• Princeton city, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, was the fastest-growing city in 2024. Princeton increased its population by nearly one-third in just one year and has more than doubled it since 2020, from roughly 17,000 to 37,000.
  
• Washington, D.C., added almost 15,000 residents in 2024, nearly doubling its population gain in 2023.
• Los Angeles, California, returned to the list of top gainers for the first time since 2016, adding over 31,000 residents in 2024, making it third among the nation’s largest-gaining cities. A more complete picture of the 100 cities and towns with the largest population gains nationwide is shown in a map highlighting place-level increases.
• Two cities crossed the 1 million-population threshold between 2023 and 2024 — Jacksonville, Florida (1,009,833), and Fort Worth, Texas (1,008,106).
• The United States continues to be a nation of small towns. In 2024, 75 percent of its 19,479 incorporated places — 14,603 cities — had populations under 5,000. Only 4.2% (817 cities) had populations of 50,000 or more, and 1.8% (342 cities) had populations of 100,000 or more.

• Twelve of the 15 cities with the largest numeric population gains between 2023 and 2024 were located in the South or the West, but the Northeast’s New York, N.Y., tops the list with an increase of 87,184 residents between 2023 and 2024. Rounding out the top five numeric gainers were: Houston, Texas (43,217); Los Angeles, California (31,276); San Antonio, Texas (23,945); and Fort Worth, Texas (23,442).
• Seven cities crossed the 100,000-population threshold, with five of them in the South:  Deltona, Florida (100,513); Plantation, Florida (100,694); Sunrise, Florida (100,128); Georgetown, Texas (101,344); and San Angelo, Texas (100,159). The two others are in the West: Tracy, California (100,136), and Federal Way, Washington (100,252).
• Between 2023 and 2024, 22 cities and towns in 16 states crossed the 20,000-population threshold. Thirteen were in the South, four in the Midwest, three in the West, and two in the Northeast.

The nation’s housing stock grew by about 1.4 million units between 2023 and 2024, reaching a total of 146.8 million. The 1.0% increase was slightly lower than the 1.1% increase between 2022 and 2023.

• California had the largest number of housing units (14.9 million), followed by Texas (12.6 million) and Florida (10.6 million), while Wyoming (282,000) and Alaska (330,000) had the fewest housing units. All five states saw an increase in housing units relative to their housing stock in 2023.
• Idaho experienced the nation’s fastest growth in housing units, with an increase of 2.2% between 2023 and 2024, followed by Utah at 2.0% and North Carolina at 1.9%.
• Hawaii (0.1%), Alaska (0.2%) and Rhode Island (0.2%) had the slowest rates of housing growth.

• The largest numeric gains in housing units between 2023 and 2024 were in: Maricopa County, Arizona (38,000); Los Angeles County, California (32,000); Harris County, Texas (32,000); Travis County, Texas (22,000); and Collin County, Texas (18,000).
• Jasper County, South Carolina, was the nation’s fastest-growing county in terms of housing units: its housing stock increased by 8.4% between 2023 and 2024, followed by Brunswick County, North Carolina (6.4%); Burnet County, Texas (6.3%); Caldwell County, Texas (5.7%); and Custer County, South Dakota (5.4%).
• Maui County, Hawaii, experienced the largest percentage decrease (2.9%) in housing units between 2023 and 2024, followed by Adair County, Iowa (1.2%) and Terrell County, Texas (0.5%).
• A more comprehensive view of housing stock changes across the nation is available through a map showing the percent change in housing units by county.

The statistics released today cover all local functioning governmental units, including incorporated places (such as cities and towns), minor civil divisions (such as townships) and consolidated cities (government units for which the functions of an incorporated place and its parent county have merged). The Census Bureau develops city and town population estimates by using updated housing unit estimates to distribute county household population to subcounty areas based on the average household population per housing unit. An estimate of the population in group quarters is added to that to obtain the total resident population. The Vintage 2024 methodology statement and release notes are available at www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/technical-documentation/methodology.html.

This release includes updates from the 2020 Census Count Question Resolution Operation (CQR) and 2020 Post-Census Group Quarters Review Program (PCGQR), which have been incorporated into the April 1, 2020, estimates base. CQR errata tables with original and corrected housing and population counts are available on the 2020 Decennial Census Notes and Errata webpage. 

In June, the Census Bureau is scheduled to release estimates of the July 1, 2024, population by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin for the nation, states, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas and counties, and population by age and sex for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico municipios. The data will be embargoed. The full release schedule for the Population Estimates Program can be found on the Census Bureau’s website.

With each new release of annual estimates, the entire time series of estimates is revised for all years back to the date of the last decennial census. All previously published estimates (e.g., old vintages) are superseded and archived on the FTP2 site.

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