On December 19, 2024, the U.S. Census Bureau released annual population estimates for U.S. States and Puerto Rico for July 1, 2024. According to the release, the Massachusetts population grew significantly from July 1, 2023, to 2024, benefiting largely from the Census Bureau’s adjustment to the immigration estimates in this year’s vintage. The state population increased by 69,603 over the year, from 7,066,568 to 7,136,171, representing a percentage increase of just under 1.0% (0.985%). This is the largest annual percentage increase that Massachusetts has experienced in over a decade, since the 2012-2013 annual increase also rounded to 1%. Numbers wise, 2023 to 2024 saw the largest population increase in Massachusetts in 60 years. The state population was estimated to have increased by 104,000 persons at the tail end of the “Baby Boom” in 1964.

In terms of national rankings, Massachusetts ranked 16th in population size (out of 50 states plus District of Columbia), 13th in population change and 15th in percent population change from July 1, 2023 to July 1, 2024.  Within the Northeast Region, it was the second fastest growing state after New Jersey, which grew by 1.3%, and it was the fastest growing out of all New England states this year. See the dashboard below for more detail on how the Massachusetts population estimates compare to other states.

The largest driver by far of the estimated population increase from 2023 to 2024 in Massachusetts is attributed to net immigration, estimated at 90,217 for the state for that year. The Vintage 2024 estimates (V2024) are significant for Massachusetts in that they show the highest levels of immigration seen since at least 1990. Prior to V2024, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated immigration primarily according to ACS survey response data on place of birth and residence one year ago. In the current series, the U.S. Census Bureau revised their method for estimating immigration to include an expanded pool of administrative records from Homeland Security and other agencies in order to capture the immigration surge documented in increasing border encounters. 

While immigration is the single largest driver of population change in Massachusetts in the V2024 estimates series, other factors also play a role. In 2024, Massachusetts saw more births (67,851) than deaths (61,133), contributing 6,718, on net, to the population growth in Massachusetts. Meanwhile, domestic migration in Massachusetts has been rebounding since a peak net outflow of 54,843 in 2022, suggesting that the 2021-2022 period migration may have been due to a short-term shock effect, potentially influenced by work-from-home trends or urban-to-rural movement following the COVID-19 pandemic. By 2023, net domestic outmigration decreased to 36,572 persons and then decreased again to 27,480 net outmigrants by 2024 – nearly half of the peak outflow in 2022. As a result of decreasing domestic out-migration and increasing immigration, total migration has been increasingly positive since 2020, with total net migration increasing from 1,762 in the period ending 2021 to 18,049 in 2022;  38,038 in 2023, and 62,737 in 2024.  See the dashboard below for more information on the Massachusetts components of change estimates.

For more information about the Vintage 2024 state-level population estimates, download the full UMDI report below.