Florida’s population has officially surpassed the 23 million mark for the first time, driven by an influx of residents from other states, according to state demographic estimates. As of April 1, the Sunshine State was home to 23,002,597 people, based on data released earlier this month by the state Demographic Estimating Conference.
This milestone confirms Florida’s status as the third most populous state in the U.S., trailing behind California’s 39.5 million residents and Texas’ 30.5 million inhabitants. Last year alone, Florida saw an increase of nearly 359,000 residents and has been consistently adding between 350,000 and 375,000 people annually throughout this decade.
However, experts anticipate that this rate of population growth will reach its peak this year and then gradually decline for the remainder of the 2020s. The decline is attributed to the decreasing number of baby boomers entering retirement. By the early 2030s, Florida’s growth rate is expected to drop below 1%, after peaking at an estimated 1.6% this year.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, all of Florida’s population growth has been fueled by people relocating to the state from other parts of the U.S. and abroad. Meanwhile, deaths have outnumbered births in Florida since late 2019 and early 2020, a trend that is projected to continue well into the next decade.
Notably, nearly 10% of Florida’s residents are aged 75 and older, placing it second only to Puerto Rico among U.S. states and territories in terms of the proportion of elderly residents.
