Tennessee was not in the top 10 fastest growing states in 2018, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
I know its hard to believe with all the traffic around town, but Tennessee placed 16th (15th if you don't count D.C.) on the nation's list for percentage growth in the last year.
That's because the Volunteer State only added 0.9 percent from 2017 to 2018 while the top two states Nevada and Idaho added 2.1 percent.
Overall, the U.S. population grew by 0.6 percent between July 1, 2017, and July 1, 2018. Following Nevada and Idaho for the largest percentage increases in population were Utah (1.9 percent), Arizona (1.7 percent), and Florida and Washington (1.5 percent each).
In actual people, Tennessee ranked 11th in growth having welcomed more than 61,000 people. Texas came in at No. 1 with an increase of 322,513 people (+1.5 percent).
This means that Tennessee's estimated population is now 6,770,010, an increase of 423,905 (6.67 percent) since the 2010 U.S. Census. (And I think they are all on Medical Center Parkway right now.)
While Tennessee and the rest of the Sunbelt saw a regional increase of 0.9 percent in the past year, population declines were also common, with losses occurring in nine states and Puerto Rico.
The nine states that lost population last year were New York (down 48,510), Illinois (45,116), West Virginia (11,216), Louisiana (10,840), Hawaii (3,712), Mississippi (3,133), Alaska (2,348), Connecticut (1,215) and Wyoming (1,197).
The new estimates show that Puerto Rico’s population has continued to decline, with an estimated loss of 129,848 people (3.9 percent) between July 1, 2017, and July 1, 2018.
“Many states have seen fewer births and more deaths in recent years,” said Sandra Johnson, a demographer/statistician in the Population Division of the Census Bureau. “If those states are not gaining from either domestic or international migration they will experience either low population growth or outright decline.”
Nationally, natural increase (the excess of births over deaths) was 1.04 million last year, reflecting 3,855,500 births and 2,814,013 deaths. With fewer births in recent years and the number of deaths increasing, natural increase has declined steadily over the past decade. In 2008, natural increase was nearly 1.8 million (based on National Center for Health Statistics data).
Michelle Willard is a freelance journalist who fills her days with social media marketing, politics, true crime, and taking complaints. You can complain to her in the comments below, on Twitter @MichWillard or by email michelle(at)murfreesborovoice.com.
