Immigrants drive population growth in a graying America, census shows

Immigration is driving U.S. population growth and helping offset a broader demographic shift as the baby boom generation ages, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

U.S. children outnumber older adults, but older adults’ share of the population is growing, the census data released Thursday shows.

From 2023 to 2024, the number of Americans 65 and older climbed by 3.1% while the population under 18 declined by 0.2%. There are more older adults than children in nearly half of U.S. counties, and the pattern is particularly strong in sparsely populated areas, the bureau said.

The gap between the two groups “is narrowing,” in part because of a decline in births this decade, said Lauren Bowers, chief of the Census Bureau’s population estimates branch, in a statement Thursday.

At the same time, a historic rise in immigration, particularly among Hispanics and Asians, has counteracted some of that population decline. The Hispanic population in the U.S. rose by about 9.7% from April 2020 to July 2024, including both immigration and births, while the Asian population grew by about 13%. (This analysis applies the Census Bureau’s classification of the non-Hispanic racial groups as excluding people who also identify as Hispanic.)

“This past year, the population gain was bigger than it’s ever been before,” said Bill Frey, a senior demographer at the Brookings Institution, a think tank. “Overall, it’s because of immigration.”

A sharp drop in the number of White children is a major factor in the declining number of American children overall, and that decline has been partially offset by the rising number of non-White youth, Frey said, based on his analysis of the census data.

White Americans accounted for 57.5% of the total population last year but for 47.5% of the population under age 18. By comparison, Hispanic people accounted for 20% of the total population and 26.9% of children.

Still, the median age is rising across every racial group in the United States.

“There is a gradual change in the racial and ethnic profile of America’s children,” said Steven Martin, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute, which conducts economic and social-policy research. “But a more useful way of thinking about it is the age structure of the population is changing for everybody, and it’s changing in a way that the retired population is increasing rapidly for everybody.”

The decline in U.S. birth rates since the late 2010s has sparked interest from policymakers. President Donald Trump campaigned on mandating that federal and private insurers cover the costs of in vitro fertilization and this month touted a proposal for $1,000 tax-deferred investment accounts for babies that he called “Trump accounts.”

At the same time, Trump is leading a crackdown on immigration, tightening some visa requirements and increasing deportations of unauthorized immigrants.

“There’s a lot of discussion about whether we should have federal programs to have women have more babies because that’s going to increase the size of the young population, but I’d like to make the case that immigration could help us have a bigger younger population or a smaller decline in the younger population,” Frey said. “It’s not all about having women have more fertility, but it also can mean we should have more immigration.”

The number of metro areas across America with more older adults than children shot up from 58 in 2020 to 112 in 2024, now representing nearly one-third of all metro areas.

Eleven states — including Maine, Vermont, Florida, Delaware, Hawaii, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia — had more older adults than children in 2024. In 2020, there were only three such states.

The pattern is particularly strong in sparsely populated areas, the Census Bureau said in a statement. Last year, Maine’s population was the oldest and Utah’s the youngest.

By region, the West and South had the lowest median ages, at 38.4 and 38.8, respectively, while the Northeast had the highest (40.6), followed by the Midwest (39.3).

The Census Bureau’s report also found that women outnumbered men by 3.4 million, making up 50.5% of the U.S. population in 2024.

Racial distribution also varied heavily by region, according to the report. While the percent of Latinos in the total population climbed to 20% for the first time, only nine states in the country were at least 20% Hispanic.

The Asian population saw the largest percent change in growth across racial demographics, rising by 4.2% between 2023 and 2024, followed by Hispanics, who saw a 2.9% rise. The Asian population saw the largest gains in California, followed by Texas.