U.S. Population Growth Slows Sharply

NY Times - The United States population grew last year at one of the slowest rates in its history, according to new numbers released on Tuesday from the Census Bureau. The immigration numbers plunged by more than 50 percent from the previous year, under the aggressive anti-immigration policies of President Trump.

The nation’s population increased by about 1.8 million over the year, and stood at 341.8 million on July 1, the estimates say. That is a growth rate of about 0.5 percent, the lowest since 2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic caused deaths to soar and borders to close, shutting the door to international migration. That year saw the slowest growth since the nation’s founding.

The new census estimates measure changes in the population from June 30, 2024 to July 1, 2025, capturing the last months of the Biden administration, when it tightened border policies, and the early months of the Trump administration.

Over that time, net immigration added 1.26 million people to the U.S. population. That number is considerably lower than 2024, when under President Biden, immigration reached a record high of 2.73 million.