At the end of 2023, the Census Bureau announced its population estimates for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Texas and Florida, the second and third largest states, dominated the nation’s growth, accounting for 51% of the 1.643 million gain. Texas gained 473,000 (29%), while Florida gained 365,000 (22%).  Only two other states exceeded a gain of 100,000 — North Carolina and Georgia. Meanwhile, the South accounted for 87% of the nation’s growth in 2023. Meanwhile, the first and fourth largest states had the largest population declines, with California dropping 75,000 and New York 102,000.

The Census Bureau has just released estimates for the counties and metropolitan areas. Not surprisingly, the counties of Texas and Florida dominated the estimates.

In overall population gain, Harris County TX (includes Houston) added the most residents, while 7 other Texas counties and one in Florida populated the top 10. Only Maricopa County (AZ) made the top ten outside Texas and Florida.

California (3) and New York (3) had the most counties in population loss. Los Angeles County had the largest loss.

Three interesting developments from this Census data:

• • • The report confirms the continuing outmigration from large, dense core cities (governed predominantly by “progressive” Democrats and population gains in outer suburbs.
    • The Atlanta metropolitan area has become the sixth largest in the nation, having passed Washington (DC-VA-MD-WV), Philadelphia, PA-NJ-DE-MD, and Miami, FL since the 2020 census.
    • The Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area has passed San Francisco to become the second-largest metropolitan area in California. Will the 49ers move to Riverside?

The left has often explained the migration out of blue states as due to the weather – not high taxes and incompetent governance. But when people are flooding out of Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area for HOUSTON, they sure aren’t leaving for better weather.