A view of neighborhoods in Philadelphia.
Although the population of the U.S. may be increasing, Pennsylvania continues to be a top state where people prefer to leave rather than stay.
According to brand-new Census Bureau estimates, Pennsylvania is one of 18 states to see a population loss in 2022 and one of the worst performers in the country.
The drop in population continues to be a persistent pattern in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania’s loss of 40,000 residents represents a 0.3 percent decrease from the previous year and was the fourth-largest drop among all states. New York, California, and Illinois were the three states that experienced the greatest population drop during the course of the year.
As of July 1, Pennsylvania had 12,972,008 people living in it, ranking as the fifth largest state in terms of population, according to the Census Bureau.
The Census Bureau earlier this year provided population change statistics for U.S. metro areas between April 1, 2020 and July 1, 2021, but the new data only measured population change at the state level. Even though the Philadelphia metro area only saw a 0.3 percent reduction in population, over 16,000 people left, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Some of the problems in Pennsylvania mirror regional patterns. The Midwest and the Northeast are experiencing population loss, while the South and the West have experienced growth.
The population of neighboring New Jersey decreased by 6,252 people, or 0.1 percent, in total.
Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia saw the largest amount of new residents, according to the Census Bureau.
According to the most recent Census Bureau data, more than 1 million immigrants have entered the country since last year, contributing primarily to the 1.26 million (0.4 percent) increase in the American population.
“There was a sizable uptick in population growth last year compared to the prior year’s historically low increase,” said Kristie Wilder, a demographer in the Population Division at the Census Bureau. “A rebound in net international migration, coupled with the largest year-over-year increase in total births since 2007, is behind this increase.”
