According to recent reports from the United States Census Bureau, California remains the most populous state in the U.S with 38.8 million residents.
Trailing California in population is Texas with 27.0 million people. Florida, which added an average of 803 new residents daily between July 1, 2013 and July 1, 2014, grew by 293,000 for a total of 19.9 million residents; the state became the third most populous in the nation passing New York whose population increased by 51,000 to 19.7 million.
Though the 10 most populous states was unchanged overall, North Carolina moved past Michigan to take the ninth spot. Georgia, the eighth most populous state, saw its population exceeded 10 million for the first time. Over the past year, North Dakota was the nation’s fastest-growing state, increasing 2.2 percent, followed by 1.7 percent growth in Nevada and Texas.
Between July 1, 2013, and July 1, 2014 a number of states declined in population. Illinois lost 9,972 residents or -0.08 percent, West Virginia lost 3,269 residents or -0.18 percent, Connecticut decreased 2,664 residents or -0.07 percent, New Mexico 1,323 residents or -0.06 percent, Alaska 527 or -0.07 percent, and Vermont lost 293 residents or -0.05 percent of total population.
New Census Bureau statistics also include estimates for Puerto Rico which had an estimated population of 3.5 million July 1, 2014, a decline of 47,000 or 1.3 percent from the previous year.
In 2015, the Census Bureau is expected to release 2014 population estimates of counties, cities and towns, and metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas. They will also release estimates of national, state and county populations by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin.
These population estimates are produced annually for the purpose of allowing the public to see the growth and demographic composition of the United States on a variety of levels and use administrative data to estimate population change between census years; the decennial census count is used as a starting point.
Overall, population in the United States increased by 2.4 million to 318.9 million, for a total of 0.75 percent. These estimated numbers are used by local governments to locate services, and by the private sector to locate businesses.
