In a new report released by the U.S. Census Bureau, three Utah cities have now topped the nation in reporting the largest population growth in 2021 — St. George, Provo-Orem and Logan.

St. George topped the list as the city that saw the most growth in the entire country.

Many cities saw a huge shift in migration and population sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic. With job losses and an unforgiving economy, folks from larger, more expensive cities left their homes and resettled into more affordable areas.
Over 73% of U.S. counties experienced a natural decrease in 2021 which was up from 45.5% in 2019 and 55.5% in 2020, according to the Census Bureau.

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Experts say a few trends are causing the decrease including, “fewer births, an aging population and increased mortality which was intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic.” To determine the cities, counties and metro areas that saw the largest growth or decline, researchers collected census data for 384 metropolitan statistical areas, 543 micropolitan statistical areas and 3,143 counties across the U.S. The research looked at different types of migration including those who moved to another county, state or even abroad.

Top 10 Metro areas with the largest growth from July 1, 2020 to July 1, 2021:

Rank Metro Area April 1, 2020 (Estimates Base) July 1, 2020 July 1, 2021 Percent Growth
1 St. George, UT 180,279 181,924 191,226 5.1%
2 Coeur d’Alene, ID 171,362 172,646 179,789 4.1%
3 Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC-NC 487,722 491,582 509,794 3.7%
4 Punta Gorda, FL 186,847 187,960 194,843 3.7%
5 The Villages, FL 129,752 130,897 135,638 3.6%
6 Boise City, ID 764,718 769,581 795,268 3.3%
7 Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL 725,046 729,233 753,520 3.3%
8 Provo-Orem, UT 671,185 674,967 697,141 3.3%
9 Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL 760,822 764,679 787,976 3.0%
10 Logan, UT-ID 147,348 147,796 152,083 2.9%
“In many cases, there was a shift from larger, more populous counties to medium and smaller ones,” census researchers say. “These patterns contributed to population increases in 1,822 counties (58.0%), while 1,313 (41.8%) lost residents, and eight (0.3%) saw no change in population.” Counties that gained the most residents from other states (or domestic migration) are Arizona’s Maricopa County (46,866 residents), Riverside County, California (31,251) and Collin County, Texas (30,191).
Researchers say Los Angeles County, California, experienced the greatest net domestic migration loss (179,757 residents), followed by New York County, New York (113,642). “Los Angeles County, California experienced the largest population loss of any county, losing 159,621 residents in 2021,” experts say.

Top 10 Counties with the largest growth from July 1, 2020 to July 1, 2021:

Rank State County April 1, 2020  (Estimates Base) July 1, 2020 July 1, 2021 Numeric Growth
1 Arizona Maricopa County 4,420,568 4,438,342 4,496,588 58,246
2 Texas Collin County 1,064,465 1,073,149 1,109,462 36,313
3 California Riverside County 2,418,185 2,422,764 2,458,395 35,631
4 Texas Fort Bend County 822,779 828,632 858,527 29,895
5 Texas Williamson County 609,017 615,266 643,026 27,760
6 Texas Denton County 906,422 913,900 941,647 27,747
7 Florida Polk County 725,046 729,233 753,520 24,287
8 Texas Montgomery County 620,443 624,938 648,886 23,948
9 Florida Lee County 760,822 764,679 787,976 23,297
10 Utah Utah County 659,399 663,143 684,986 21,843
Counties with the largest international migration loss (more people moving out of the country), were found in California (41.4%), Oregon (27.8%) and Mississippi (23.2%). “The patterns we’ve observed in domestic migration shifted in 2021,” said Dr. Christine Hartley, assistant division chief for estimates and projections in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. “Even though over time we’ve seen a higher number of counties with natural decrease and net international migration continuing to decline, in the past year, the contribution of domestic migration counteracted these trends so there were actually more counties growing than losing population.”

Large metropolitan areas that lost the most residents:

  • New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA (385,455)
  • Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA (204,776)
  • San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA (128,870)
  • Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI (106,897)

Counties that lost the most residents from April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2021:

Rank State County April 1, 2020 (Estimates Base) July 1, 2020 July 1, 2021 Numeric Decline
1 California Los Angeles County 10,014,009 9,989,165 9,829,544 -184,465
2 New York New York County 1,694,251 1,687,834 1,576,876 -117,375
3 Illinois Cook County 5,275,541 5,262,741 5,173,146 -102,395
4 New York Kings County 2,736,074 2,727,393 2,641,052 -95,022
5 New York Queens County 2,405,464 2,395,791 2,331,143 -74,321
6 California San Francisco County 873,965 870,014 815,201 -58,764
7 California Santa Clara County 1,936,259 1,930,598 1,885,508 -50,751
8 New York Bronx County 1,472,654 1,466,438 1,424,948 -47,706
9 California Alameda County 1,682,353 1,679,844 1,648,556 -33,797
10 Florida Miami-Dade County 2,701,767 2,692,459 2,662,777 -38,990
“The Population Estimates Program uses current data on births, deaths and migration to calculate population change since the most recent decennial census and produce a time series of estimates of population, demographic components of change and housing units.,” census researchers say. To check out the full migration report by the U.S. Census Bureau, click here.

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