The states that lost population in 2025, and how each one shrank

The United States grew by 1,781,060 people, or 0.52%, between July 2024 and July 2025, and 46 of the 50 states and DC grew with it. The other 5 are California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Vermont and West Virginia. None of the declines is large: even the steepest, Vermont's, was −0.29%¹. What sets these states apart is not the size of the loss but the route to it.

Oregon0.19%

Mississippi0.14%

Illinois0.13%

Alaska0.10%

Pennsylvania0.10%

Louisiana0.07%

New York0.01%

California−0.02%

New Mexico−0.06%

West Virginia−0.07%

Hawaii−0.15%

Vermont−0.29%

Source: Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025. Period: July 1, 2024 to July 1, 2025.

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State	Growth 2024-25
Oregon	0.19%
Mississippi	0.14%
Illinois	0.13%
Alaska	0.10%
Pennsylvania	0.10%
Louisiana	0.07%
New York	0.01%
California	−0.02%
New Mexico	−0.06%
West Virginia	−0.07%
Hawaii	−0.15%
Vermont	−0.29%

The five states, by people and by percent

The two ways of ranking the losses give different orders. In people, California lost the most (−9,465), followed by Hawaii (−2,132), Vermont (−1,858), New Mexico (−1,276) and West Virginia (−1,255). As a share of population the order changes: Vermont fell by −0.29%, the lowest in the nation, and California's decline, −0.02%¹, is the smallest of the five.

Resident population, Census Bureau Vintage 2025 estimates.

Each of the four mainland states also trailed all of its neighbors. California's change was lower than every bordering state (Arizona, Nevada and Oregon), Vermont's was lower than every bordering state (Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York), New Mexico's was lower than every bordering state (Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas) and West Virginia's was lower than every bordering state (Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia). Hawaii has no bordering state; its growth rate was lowest in the West¹.

Three routes to a smaller population

A state's population changes through births, deaths, moves to and from other states (net domestic migration) and moves to and from other countries (net international migration). Every one of the five gained people from abroad in the year to June 2025. They differ in the other two.

Year from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025. Components do not add exactly to the total because of a small residual the Census Bureau cannot assign to any component.

Migration losses with more births than deaths: California and Hawaii. Both states recorded natural increase. California's, 109,715, was 2nd highest among the states, and its net gain from abroad, 109,278, was 3rd highest. The two were almost the same size, and together they still fell short of the net loss to other states, −229,077, the lowest in the nation. Hawaii followed the same pattern on a smaller scale. Per resident, its net loss to other states, −6.2 per 1,000 residents, was 2nd lowest, larger than California's −5.8 per 1,000 residents¹.

More deaths than births and a net migration loss: Vermont. Vermont recorded 4,979 births, the lowest in the nation, and 6,748 deaths. Its natural change per 1,000 residents, −2.7 per 1,000 residents, was 3rd lowest. Migration did not make up the gap: a net loss of −726 to other states was larger than its net gain of 623¹ from abroad. It is the only one of the five in which both natural change and total net migration were negative. Vermont's median age in 2025, 44.6 years (±0.3 years), was 2nd oldest (ranks between 2nd and 3rd² once margins of error are considered), and 24.1% of its residents were 65 or older on July 1, 2025, 2nd highest³.

Natural decrease larger than net migration: New Mexico and West Virginia. Both states gained people through migration overall and still shrank. New Mexico's total net migration was a gain of 612, too small to offset a natural change of −1,885. West Virginia is the sharper case. It gained 6,408 residents from other states, a rate of 3.6 per 1,000 residents that was 13th highest. But its natural change, −4.5 per 1,000 residents, was the lowest in the nation, and its net gain from abroad, 244, was also the lowest in the nation¹.

Births+16,954

Deaths−24,841

Net domestic migration+6,408

Net international migration+244

Residual (estimation adjustment)−20

Total change−1,255

Source: Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025. Each bar starts where the previous one ended. The residual is the part of the change the Census Bureau cannot assign to a component.

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Component	People
Births	16,954
Deaths	−24,841
Net domestic migration	6,408
Net international migration	244
Residual (estimation adjustment)	−20
Total change	−1,255

What changed from 2024 to 2025

The list was shorter a year earlier. Between July 2023 and July 2024, only Vermont (647,722 to 646,521) and West Virginia (1,770,036 to 1,767,402) lost residents, and Hawaii's estimate was essentially flat (1,434,950 to 1,434,952¹). California and New Mexico both grew that year.

The component that moved most was international migration. Nationally, net international migration fell from 2,734,468 in the year to June 2024 to 1,262,202 in the year to June 2025. In California the drop was from 312,761 to 109,278, while the net loss to other states changed less, from −241,611 to −229,077. Total net migration went from a gain of 71,150 to a loss of −119,799, the lowest in the nation. New Mexico's gain from abroad fell from 10,577 to 2,879, and its total net migration from 8,703 to 612¹, no longer enough to cover its natural decrease.

In Vermont and West Virginia, the drop in arrivals from abroad was smaller than the 2025 loss itself, and both states had already lost residents in 2024. West Virginia's natural decrease was about the same in both years (−7,940 and −7,887¹).

How long each state has been shrinking

The five are at very different points in their history. West Virginia's population peaked at the 1950 Census, at 2,005,552, and its July 1 estimate has fallen in every year after 2012, from 1,858,706⁴ to 1,766,147. Hawaii's estimate peaked in 2018 at 1,459,965 and has not returned to that level. California's peaked in 2019 at 39,547,995¹; it fell in each of the next three years, recovered part of the loss in 2023 and 2024, and fell again in 2025.

The other two turned down only recently. Vermont's estimate peaked at 647,722 in 2023 and has fallen in both years since. New Mexico's peaked at 2,126,774 in 2024¹, so 2025 is its first year down from that high.

West VirginiaHawaiiCaliforniaVermontNew Mexico

Source: Census Bureau, Intercensal Estimates of the Resident Population for States, 2000-2010; Census Bureau, Intercensal Estimates of the Resident Population for States, 2010-2020; Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025. July 1 estimates: intercensal series for 2000–2019, Vintage 2025 for 2020–2025.

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Year	West Virginia	Hawaii	California	Vermont	New Mexico
2010	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
2011	100.2	101.5	100.9	100.5	100.8
2012	100.2	102.9	101.7	100.7	101.2
2013	100.1	104.3	102.6	101.0	101.5
2014	99.9	105.1	103.5	101.2	101.5
2015	99.6	106.0	104.4	101.5	101.5
2016	99.0	106.7	105.1	101.6	101.7
2017	98.3	106.8	105.6	102.0	101.8
2018	97.6	106.9	105.9	102.3	101.9
2019	97.1	106.7	106.0	102.5	102.2
2020	96.6	106.3	105.9	102.7	102.6
2021	96.3	106.0	104.9	103.3	102.5
2022	95.7	105.3	104.8	103.4	102.3
2023	95.5	105.1	105.0	103.4	102.6
2024	95.3	105.1	105.5	103.2	103.0
2025	95.2	105.0	105.4	102.9	102.9

Smaller than in 2020 is a different list

A one-year loss and a loss since the last census are not the same thing. Between the April 2020 Census base and July 2025, 7 states lost population: California, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York and West Virginia. California, Hawaii and West Virginia are on both lists. Vermont (1,586) and New Mexico (8,006¹) are not: both still had more residents in July 2025 than in April 2020.

The largest declines since 2020 were in New York (−201,269), California (−200,394) and Illinois (−102,600). In percentage terms, West Virginia (−1.54%) and Hawaii (−1.54%) lost the largest share, against national growth of 3.10%¹.

Pennsylvania0.44%

New Mexico0.38%

Vermont0.25%

Mississippi−0.24%

California−0.51%

Illinois−0.80%

Louisiana−0.85%

New York−1.00%

Hawaii−1.54%

West Virginia−1.54%

Source: Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025. Period: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025.

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State	Growth since 2020
Pennsylvania	0.44%
New Mexico	0.38%
Vermont	0.25%
Mississippi	−0.24%
California	−0.51%
Illinois	−0.80%
Louisiana	−0.85%
New York	−1.00%
Hawaii	−1.54%
West Virginia	−1.54%

New York, Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi are on the five-year list but grew in 2025. New York added 1,008 residents, Illinois 16,108, Louisiana 3,311 and Mississippi 3,988. New York lost −137,586 residents to other states, −6.9 per 1,000 residents against California's −5.8 per 1,000 residents, but its natural increase (42,815) and net gain from abroad (95,634¹) together kept it just above zero.

The states that came closest to joining the list

Several states grew by only a few thousand people or less. After the five that lost residents, the smallest gains were in Alaska (733), New York (1,008), Wyoming (2,031), the District of Columbia (2,335) and Louisiana (3,311). New York's gain was 0.01% of a population of 20.0 million¹.

Alaska is the closest parallel to California and Hawaii: it lost −4,525 residents to other states and had a total net migration loss of −2,566, but its natural increase, 3,308, kept it growing. Pennsylvania is the closest parallel to West Virginia and New Mexico: its natural decrease was larger in numbers (−10,708), but net international migration of 26,921 kept its total change positive at 13,584¹.

How to read these estimates

The figures come from the Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025. They are built from the 2020 Census base plus administrative records on births, deaths and migration, carry no margin of error, and are revised every year. The Vintage 2026 release, expected in December 2026, will restate every year back to 2020. The smallest losses on this page, New Mexico's (−0.06%) and West Virginia's (−0.07%¹), are a fraction of one percent, so a revision could move either state to the other side of zero.

Population is measured on July 1 of each year, while births, deaths and migration are counted for the year from July 1 to June 30. Estimates for counties and cities are outside the scope of this site, which covers the 50 states and DC. For every state's growth rate, see the population growth ranking; for where people moved, see where Americans moved in 2025; for the states where deaths outnumber births, see the natural decrease article.