People seem to prefer standing in the Sunshine State over the Empire State.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Florida surpassed New York in population between July 1, 2013 and July 1, 2014 to become the third most populous state in the nation. Florida gained an average of 803 new residents each day in that time period, and overall grew by 293,000. New York’s population grew by 51,000.
The members of the top 10 most populous states remained unchanged, though North Carolina and Michigan also switched spots.
Here are the 10 most populous states and their populations: California (38.8 million), Texas (27 million), Florida (19.9 million), New York (19.7 million), Illinois (12.9 million), Pennsylvania (12.8 million), Ohio (11.6 million), Georgia (10.1 million), North Carolina (9.9 million) and Michigan (9.9 million).
The overall population of the United States increased by 2.4 million, or 0.75 percent, to 318.9 million.
Only six states lost population. The numbers in parenthesis represent the number of residents lost and the percent change in population: Illinois (9,972, -0.08 percent), West Virginia (3,269, -0.018 percent), Connecticut (2,664, -0.07 percent), New Mexico (1,323, -0.06 percent), Alaska (527, -0.07 percent) and Vermont (293, -0.05 percent).
Also important to note are the top 10 fastest growing states. The numbers in parenthesis represent the percent the population of those states grew: North Dakota (2.16 percent), Nevada (1.71 percent), Texas (1.70 percent), Colorado (1.59 percent), District of Columbia (1.51 percent), Florida (1.49 percent), Arizona (1.45 percent), Utah (1.38 percent), Idaho (1.34 percent) and South Carolina (1.27 percent).
