Florida is the fastest-growing state in the country for the first time since 1957, a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau shows.
Florida was the fastest-growing state from July 1, 2021, to July 1, 2022, with its population increasing by 1.9 percent, according to the report which was issued last week.
The sunshine state's popularity has been growing for many years, with the number of people calling Florida home growing 1.9% to 22.24 million from 2021 to 2022, surpassing the previous year’s fastest-growing state, Idaho.
"While Florida has often been among the largest-gaining states, this was the first time since 1957 that Florida has been the state with the largest percent increase in population," Kristie Wilder, a demographer in the population division of the Census Bureau, said.
While topping states in percentage increases, Florida also had the second-largest increase in raw numbers of residents. Its 416,754 increase trailed only Texas’ 470,708 increase.
Florida continued to have the third-largest population in the country, behind California and Texas. Texas’ population grew by 1.6 percent, to 30,029,572, during the one-year period, while California’s population declined by 0.3 percent to 39,029,342.
