Good afternoon, Beacon readers, and happy Wednesday to you all! Mariah Thomas here with your Daily Roundup, bringing you an update from the U.S. Census Bureau, which released new data yesterday showing the nation experienced its slowest population growth since the COVID pandemic between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025.
Population across the nation in the past year increased by 1.8 million, marking only a 0.5% increase from 2024, when the country gained 3.2 million people and grew by 1.0%. The slower population growth — or quicker population declines — emerged in nearly every state across the country. Montana, however, was one of two outliers on that front. West Virginia was the other.
In The Treasure State, population growth increased slightly between 2024 and 2025. The state gained 7,137 residents during that time frame, up from 6,945 the previous year.
Census data released in July 2024 clocked Montana’s growth at around 0.61%. This year, the state saw growth at about 0.63%. While that marks an increase, the state’s population growth has slowed dramatically since it peaked in 2021 in the direct aftermath of COVID, as people flocked to the state in search of more-relaxed pandemic protocols and places that offered access to the outdoors. Locally, that spike helped contribute to increasing housing prices as growth outpaced housing supply.
The growth from 2024 to 2025 in Montana largely came from international and domestic migration. The state saw 899 more people enter from international migration, and another 6,348 from domestic migration. That comes as natural change — the number of births minus deaths — resulted in 90 fewer people in the state.
Federally, a press release from the Census Bureau attributed the reason for a slowdown in population growth to a drop in international migration.
“The slowdown in U.S. population growth is largely due to a historic decline in net international migration, which dropped from 2.7 million to 1.3 million in the period from July 2024 through June 2025,” said Christine Hartley, the bureau’s assistant division chief for Estimates and Projections. “With births and deaths remaining relatively stable compared to the prior year, the sharp decline in international migration is the main reason for the slower growth rate we see today.”
Of course, it bears noting the decline in international migration coincides with the first six months of President Donald Trump taking office. Curbing immigration served as one of the president’s key campaign trail promises.
The Trump administration has taken several actions on that front: bolstering funding for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in the One Big Beautiful Bill earlier this summer; declaring a national emergency at the southern border to direct the use of military resources and personnel there; and restricting legal immigration via actions like reducing the annual refugee cap and shuttering the CBP One app, which asylum-seekers previously used to schedule immigration appointments.
The data also reflects a period where immigration crackdowns began in Los Angeles and Portland. It doesn’t account for more recent immigration efforts, however, such as the ongoing situation in Minneapolis.
Still, the cumulative effect of the policies, several think tanks have concluded, helped lead to the decline in international migration that’s driving the nation’s slowing population growth.
Per the Census Bureau, net international migration will continue to drop if current trends continue, with the bureau projecting net international migration numbers will only sit at 321,000 by July 2026.
And … that’s what I’ve got for you today. On to the rest of your Daily Roundup.
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