Florida overtook New York this year to become the third most populous state, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.
Florida’s population grew by 293,000 between July 2013 and July 2014 to reach 19.9 million. New York’s growth lagged, with the state adding 51,000 residents for a total of 19.7 million.
With that growth, the Sunshine State trails only California (38.8 million) and Texas (27 million) in size.
Florida was among the fastest-growing states in the year. In absolute numbers, Texas had the most growth, adding nearly half a million residents.
Buoyed by an ongoing boom in shale oil production, however, North Dakota had the fastest population growth as a share of its population at 2.2 percent.
The other fastest-growing states were all red states, with the exception of purple Colorado and Nevada: Texas, Arizona, Utah, Idaho and South Carolina.
The top 10 most populous states remained the same as last year, but North Carolina overtook Michigan in population to take the ninth spot.
The population of the country as a whole grew by 2.4 million to 318.9 million. That 0.75 percent growth rate is among the slowest since the Great Depression.
