A drop in immigration is slowing U.S. population growth, with cities seeing the biggest impacts as the South continued to lead the nation in gains, according to new U.S. Census Bureau estimates released Thursday.
The nation’s population growth slowed between July 2024 and July 2025, from 1.1% in 2024 to 0.6% in 2025, driven largely by a decline in net international migration, with metro areas, home to most Americans, having noticeably weaker growth.
Metro areas overall continued to grow, but at a slower pace than the previous year.
Large urban counties were hit the hardest as immigration waned, especially those along the Mexican border. Laredo, Texas, Yuma, Arizona, and El Centro, California, saw the steepest percentage-point declines in population growth rates.
Los Angeles experienced the greatest population decline. New York was also among the top 10, but it fell into fourth place.
Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg, Florida, ranked second for the steepest population decline, but it was one of the hardest hit areas by Hurricanes Helene and Milton in the fall of 2024.
By contrast, areas in the South recorded the strongest population gains of any region, continuing a yearslong trend. Southern counties accounted for the majority of U.S. growth in states such as Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.
The fastest-growing metro areas in 2025 were Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth, followed by Atlanta, Phoenix, and Charlotte.
The Census Bureau said that one in 10 counties experienced lower net migration levels, and the 1 in 10 counties that did not see a drop in international migration did not see an increase either.
The decline in migration comes as the Trump administration has intensified efforts to curb immigration, including tightening asylum rules, expanding enforcement operations, and effectively shutting down the southern border.
The latest estimate underscores the growing role immigration plays in offsetting broader demographic trends. The U.S. birth rate remains low, and the population continues to age, reducing natural increase, the difference between births and deaths, as a source of growth. In large metro areas, immigration has accounted for most of the population growth in recent years.
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Outside the South, growth was more uneven. Parts of the Midwest and Northeast saw slower gains or continued declines, as residents moved to faster-growing regions with lower costs of living.
Smaller and mid-sized metro areas often outpace larger cities, benefiting from domestic migration trends that have reshaped population patterns since the COVID-19 pandemic.
