Population growth by state: rates versus people added
Between July 1, 2020 and July 1, 2025, Idaho grew 9.76% and Texas grew 8.45%. Texas added 2,471,926 residents; Idaho added 180,405. Comparing the percentage and the count separates relative expansion from the scale of population change.
Editorial date:
· First published September 30, 2026 · Updated October 1, 2026
Data reviewed September 30, 2026; definition labels reviewed October 1,
2026 · American Public Data
The starting population changes the answer
Percentage growth divides the gain by the starting population. Adding 100,000 residents to a state of one million would be a 10% increase, while adding the same number to ten million would be 1%. This arithmetic example explains why a small state can lead a growth-rate table without adding the most residents. It is a hypothetical illustration, not another observation in the state dataset.
A consistent vintage keeps revisions out of the comparison
Every endpoint in this article comes from Census Population Estimates Program Vintage 2025. The program revises previous years as new information becomes available. Combining a 2020 estimate from an earlier vintage with a 2025 value from the latest release could fold a source revision into the measured change. Retaining one vintage makes the five-year arithmetic reproducible.
July 2020 is not the April census enumeration
The starting population here refers to July 1, 2020. It is not the decennial census count for April 1, 2020. Dates a few months apart are distinct observations, even when both are described casually as “2020 population.” The national July estimate increased from 331,578,104 to 341,784,857 in this vintage. The same date convention applies to every state.
Explore the figures behind this comparison
Change the starting year to compare annual population changes
. The table and download update together. The United States is a separate
benchmark; selected states are examples, rather than a complete ranking.
Percentage change between the July 1, 2020 and July 1, 2025 resident population estimates, using PEP Vintage 2025 for both endpoints.
Population growth·
July 1, 2020–July 1, 2025· U.S. Census
Bureau
Source counts and periods come from snapshot apd-2026-10-01-r3. Derived percentage
uncertainty is not calculated; direct margins of error remain in the
indicator download.
Residents added is not net migration
A population gain combines births, deaths and migration within the producer’s estimation framework. A large gain does not establish how many residents moved from another state, nor does it distinguish international migration from domestic migration. Answering those questions requires the appropriate components-of-change tables. This site’s retained total-population series supports changes in totals, with no invented migration decomposition.
Compare the last year with the longer interval
The five-year ordering uses two endpoints and can conceal a different recent pattern. Select 2024 as the starting year in the interactive table to compare July 2024 with July 2025. That control recomputes both the percentage and the residents added from the same stored series. A one-year result is not interchangeable with an annualized five-year rate; neither should inherit the other’s label.
Match the measure to the reporting question
Percentage growth is useful when describing relative expansion across states. The residents-added column helps frame the additional scale of housing, schools and services, though those needs also depend on age, household composition and location within the state. County profiles provide a finer geographic context. Estimates do not have sampling margins of error like an ACS survey estimate, but the values remain estimates and can be revised in a later vintage.
Source tables and calculation record
Original producer: U.S. Census Bureau. Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025, annual July 1 estimates for 2020–2025.
Website data snapshot: apd-2026-10-01-r3. The article arithmetic uses retained
observations and documented indicator definitions; displayed percentages
are rounded, while exports preserve their underlying precision.
Census comparison guidance
explains why source product and sampling uncertainty belong in a survey
comparison.
Population Estimates Program documentation
explains the estimate framework and vintage revisions. The article
examples do not imply household-level links between separate state
totals.
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