Census: Southeast has Fastest Growing Counties

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The US Census Bureau is out with its Vintage 2025 county and metro area population estimates. In its analysis, Census found that the majority of US counties experienced slow to negative population growth between July 1, 2024 and July 1, 2025. It cites negative international migration as the principal cause of this trend. However, for the largest counties (1 million and above), negative net domestic migration was also a key factor. Census figures show a 6.27 per 1,000 reduction in population from negative net domestic migration in those counties, resulting in a growth rate of only 0.3% for the group during the 12 months ending July 1, 2025, compared to a 1.1% rate in 2024. While counties of all sizes generally experienced slower growth in the 2025 period compared to that of 2024, this large county cohort saw the most significant decline. Finally, Census determined that the fastest growing counties were located “along the southeast coast of the United States in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia”. The below table from the Census release depicts the ten fastest growing US counties in terms of numeric growth.



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