Washington鈥檚 population surpasses 8 million milestone
Jul 1, 2024, 8:45 AM | Updated: 8:46 am
The Washington State flag. (Photo courtesy of 成人X站 7)
(Photo courtesy of 成人X站 7)
The State of Washington has officially surpassed 8 million people for its population.
According to the , the Office of Financial Management estimated 84,550 people moved to Washington over the past year — pushing the state to 8,035,700 in total population. In comparison, Washington had a population of 5.3 million in 1993.
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California has the largest population (38.9 million), with Texas ranking No. 2 as the only other state with more than 30 million people. Florida is the third-largest in population (23 million). Of those three states, only California has had a negative growth rate. The population dropped 0.19% year-over-year and 1.55% since 2020. In that time span, Texas and Florida have grown by 6% and 6.4%, respectively.
Washington’s population only grew 0.36%, ranking 25th in the nation in population growth. South Carolina had the largest year-over-year population growth, followed by Florida, Texas, Idaho and North Carolina.
Washington is still expanding as a state, but not as quickly as it was in the previous decade. 98,200 people moved to Washington on average per year from 2010 to 2020, approximately 16% more than the migration seen last year into the evergreen state.
Migration was responsible for slightly more than 80% of the population jump while natural change — local births minus local deaths — accounted for just under 20% of the population growth.
In total, Washington is the 13th most populous state, slotting between Arizona and Virginia, according to .
Progress or problem? Seattle鈥檚 population keeps growing, but the growth has slowed
King, Clark, Snohomish, Pierce and Spokane Counties were responsible for , according to the Office of Financial Management. Asotin, Skamania, Ferry, Columbia, Garfield and Wahkiakum Counties grew the least, according to , with each adding fewer than 100 people.
Seattle鈥檚 population grew by聽, the most of any city in Washington. Its current population is 797,700.
Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories聽here聽and you can email him聽here.
