Florida: Map reveals counties where population is surging

Florida is one of the fastest-growing states in the U.S. But which counties in the Sunshine State have been growing the fastest?

Florida is the third most populous state in the U.S., after California and Texas. As of April 1, the Sunshine State had a population of 23 million, growing by between 350,000 and 375,000 residents every year this decade, on average.

The majority of the state’s 67 counties have seen significant population growth over the past three years. The map below, based on U.S. census data, shows where this growth has been the fastest:

According to this data, the five fastest-growing counties between 2020 and 2023 were:

1. Sumter County—16 percent increase in population
2. Walton County—14 percent
3. Flagler County—13 percent
4. Nassau County—12 percent
5. Osceola County—12 percent

Pasco County and Polk County have also seen 12 percent population increases.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, the following five counties have seen the largest declines in population:

1. Monroe County—3 percent decrease in population
2. Calhoun County—2 percent
3. Hamilton County—2 percent
4. Lafayette County—2 percent
5. Bradford County—1 percent

Liberty County and Taylor County also saw a 1 percent decrease in population during this period.

So what is driving this population growth?

Between 2020 and 2023, all of Florida’s growth was due to net migration, Florida’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research reports. This is because over that period deaths outpaced births in the Sunshine State, a trend that is expected to continue in the coming years.

In 2023, it was reported that the number of people moving to Florida from elsewhere in the U.S. was “the highest number it’s ever been,” said Stefan Rayer, population program director with the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Florida.

“Population growth is still growing strong in the state,” Rayer said in a meeting last year regarding a newly released report from the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research. “Slightly more than the year before, but still, if you compare long-term averages, which have been just under 300,000, it’s been really remarkably strong.”

The surge in Florida’s population reflects a more general trend of migration to more Southern U.S. states, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Florida’s population is also growing older, with estimates that nearly a third of its residents will be 60 or over by 2030, an increase of 34 percent from 2012, the federal government’s Administration for Community Living reports.

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