Economy

US Population Adds One Person Every 18 Seconds

Paul Ausick

Published: December 28, 2017 2:02 pm

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 5:02 am

The combined total of births, deaths, and net immigration will add one more person to the total U.S. population every 18 seconds in 2018. The U.S. population on New Year’s Day 2018 is projected to be 326,971,407. At the projected growth rate, the U.S. population could be expected to grow by about 1.75 million in 2018.

The data — and a lot more besides — were published Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The agency’s estimate the country’s population grows by one person every second is based on three elements: one birth every 8 seconds; one death every 10 seconds; and one international migrant (net) every 29 seconds.

Since the last census was conducted in 2010, the U.S. population has grown by 5.9%, or 18.23 million people.

The global population on New Year’s Day is projected to reach 7,444,443,881, a 1.07% increase since last January 1, adding some 78.52 million people to the world’s population.

The Census Bureau report also listed the states — including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico — by population growth since the 2010 census. The five fastest growing states in the past seven years are:

• District of Columbia: up 15.3%
• Texas: up 12.6%
• North Dakota: up 12.3%
• Utah: up 12.2%
• Florida: up 11.6%

Here are the five state that either lost population or had the smallest gains:

• West Virginia: down 2%
• Vermont: down 0.3%
• Illinois: down 0.2%
• Connecticut: up 0.4%
• Mississippi: up 0.5%

By numbers of people, Texas added the most population, 3.16 million, followed by California which added 2.28 million, and Florida with 2.18 million new residents since 2010. No other state has added more than 741,000 (Georgia) since the last census.

To check out up-to–the-minute population numbers, see the Census Bureau’s U.S. and World Population Clock.

24/7 Wall St.
10 Financial Resolutions for the New Year