Florida saw the fastest growth in the country over 2022, according to data in a new report by the U.S. Census Bureau. This is the first time Florida has been the fastest-growing state in more than 60 years, since 1957.  

There was a 1.9% increase in the population of Florida from 2021 to 2022.

The population of Florida has been growing since 1946, even when the country’s population growth has been slowing overall, but in recent years Nevada has edged it out for the top spot. In Nevada, the population is 22 times what it was in 1946.

The U.S. population is slowly going back up overall after record lows during the height of the pandemic. A lot of the country’s population growth stems from immigration, according to the new Census data.

In 2022, net international migration, which describes how many people move into and out of the country, was the main driver of U.S. population growth. From 2021 to 2022, the U.S. added more than 1,010,920 residents from immigration. Compared to 2020-2021, that was nearly a 169% increase.

In the South, reginal growth rates were the highest at 1.1% because of international and domestic migration. The West followed, with a 0.2% population increase.

In the Northeast and Mideast, there were slight population declines. The Northeast saw a drop of 0.4%, and the Midwest was at -0.1%.

The report comes when there’s a significant debate about the migration emergency. States are trying to prepare for an influx of migrants as Title 42 is tied up in the courts.

In California, the story was starkly different from Florida’s. The U.S. Census data shows California continues to see declines in its population. Since July 2021, the data shows a drop of more than 113,000 residents in California. Since July 2020, the population has been down by more than 500,000.

While Florida was the fastest-growing state, Texas was saw the largest amount of growth. Texas has had an increase of 470,708 people since July 2021. Texas now has a total population of 30,029,572, making it the only other state besides California with a population above 30 million.

Despite declines in several of these states, the most populous in 2022 are California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Another state seeing ongoing population declines is Illinois. Illinois has had a decrease in its population for nine years straight. The report found that last year Illinois lost around 104,000 residents. The population loss was 0.8%, with the third-highest loss rate behind New York and California.

The rest of the Midwest region of the country lost around 50,000 residents, but Indiana and Wisconsin did grow in 2022.

Because of population losses in Illinois between 2010 and 2020, the state lost a Congressional seat. It was the first time that the Census reported a reduction in the population of Illinois, even though Chicago gained in excess of  50,000 residents. Since 1930, Illinois has lost ten seats in the House of Representatives.

As a result, there could be uneven effects on real estate and the housing market in 2023. For example, it could be that some states like Texas and Florida continue to see strong homebuying activity. At the same time, more of a correction or even crash could be felt in those states and metros that are losing residents.