Immigration to the United States in 2024 has significantly impacted the nation's population growth, driving it to its fastest rate in 23 years. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the country now boasts over 340 million residents, marking a 1% growth rate for the year, the highest since 2001. This surge stands in stark contrast to the record low of 0.2% experienced in 2021 during the peak of pandemic-related travel restrictions.
The increase in immigration this year, totaling 2.8 million people, can be attributed in part to a new counting method that now includes individuals admitted for humanitarian reasons. Net international migration accounted for 84% of the nation's 3.3 million-person population growth between 2023 and 2024.
Births in the U.S. outpaced deaths by nearly 519,000 from 2023 to 2024, showing improvement from the historic low of 146,000 in 2021 but still falling short of previous decades' highs.
The revised international migration estimates now encompass individuals entering the country through humanitarian parole, a practice that has been in place for seven decades under both Republican and Democratic administrations. The Migration Policy Institute reported that over 5.8 million people were admitted under various humanitarian policies from 2021 to 2024.
Accurately capturing the number of new immigrants remains a challenging aspect of the annual U.S. population estimates. While the recent methodological change is unrelated, its timing coincides with the impending return of President-elect Donald Trump to the White House, who has pledged mass deportations of undocumented individuals in the U.S.
These population estimates play a crucial role in providing official population counts each year between the decennial censuses for the United States, its states, counties, and metro areas. The data derived from these estimates are instrumental in the distribution of federal funding amounting to trillions of dollars.
