2026-03-26T08:24:00-0400 / 哥伦比亚广播公司/美联社
美国人口普查局称,2025年全美大都市区的人口增长率普遍下降,其中美国-墨西哥边境地区的降幅最为显著。该局主要将人口减少归因于移民人数下降,以及飓风导致墨西哥湾沿岸部分地区居民外迁。
数据显示,大多数大都市区和县去年的人口增长速度放缓,该局将这主要归因于国际移民速度的减缓,而前一年移民涌入曾帮助城市地区从几年前的新冠疫情中复苏。
大都市区的平均增长率从2024年的1.1%降至2025年的0.6%。
这些数据覆盖了截至2025年7月的一年时间,反映了唐纳德·特朗普总统第二任期初期以及其政府开始实施移民打击政策的开端。由于美国人口老龄化以及过去二十年出生率下降,移民已成为许多社区增长的重要来源。
新罕布什尔大学高级人口统计学家肯尼斯·约翰逊表示:“由于自然增长如此之少,移民决定了一个地区是增长还是衰退,特别是在那些持续有国内人口外流且依赖移民的大型核心都市区。”
人口增长率降幅最大的地区
人口普查局称,2025年大都市区中人口增长率降幅最显著的是美国-墨西哥边境地区。三个地区的人口增长率下降最为明显:得克萨斯州拉雷多,增长率从2024年的3.2%降至2025年的0.2%;亚利桑那州尤马,从3.3%降至1.4%;加利福尼亚州埃尔森特罗,从1.2%降至-0.7%。
该局表示,这些地区人口的变化主要是由于移民数量减少。2024年,这三个地区都因数千名移民涌入而实现了人口增长。
得克萨斯州人口统计中心临时主任海伦·尤表示:“这种模式表明边境地区存在更显著的起伏效应,在这些地区,国际移民在逐年的人口变化中发挥着更核心的作用。”
与2024年一样,2025年移民的最大目的地按数量计算仍是休斯顿、迈阿密和洛杉矶所在的县。但这些县的移民数量明显下降。人口普查局称,2025年美国十分之九的县的移民数量比2024年有所减少。
2024年秋季,两场破坏性飓风——海伦和米尔顿——席卷了佛罗里达州的墨西哥湾沿岸各县,造成数十亿美元的损失。人口估计显示,这些风暴也导致居民离开。
拥有圣彼得堡的皮内拉斯县失去了近12,000名居民,在美国所有县中人口流失量排名第二,仅次于洛杉矶县(该地区十年来一直人口流失)。皮内拉斯县的人口增长依赖移民,因为该县的死亡人数远超出生人数,在全美各县中这一差距最大。
佛罗里达州“大弯道”地区遭受飓风重创的小社区泰勒县,去年的人口增长率降幅在美国各县中最为陡峭,下降了-2.2%。
但飓风导致的人口迁移并不局限于佛罗里达州。在蓝岭山脉地区,飓风海伦的残余势力摧毁了房屋并切断了山区城镇的电力和通讯,导致阿什维尔所在的县有超过2,000名居民在灾后数月内离开。
由于移民人数减少,纽约大都市区从2024年人口增长最多的地区下滑至2025年的第13位。
人口普查局人口统计学家乔治·海沃德在一份声明中表示:“像纽约大都市区这样的全国最大县通常是国际移民枢纽,吸引大量国际移民,但同时也因国内迁移导致人口外流。由于国际移民带来的增长减少,这类县的人口增长放缓甚至出现负增长。”
人口增长最快的地区
人口普查局称,2025年部分地区的人口增长率有所上升。2025年人口增长最快的大都市区依次是休斯顿、达拉斯-沃斯堡,其次是亚特兰大、凤凰城和北卡罗来纳州夏洛特。
佛罗里达州和南卡罗来纳州的几个中型大都市区增长率位居前列。位于奥兰多西北80英里处、以马场闻名的佛罗里达州奥卡拉市以3.4%的增长率位居全国之首。紧随其后的是:南卡罗来纳州默特尔海滩大都市区(已成为退休人员聚集地);南卡罗来纳州斯巴达堡;佛罗里达州莱克兰(位于坦帕和奥兰多两大都市之间);以及佛罗里达州普塔哥达(位于迈尔斯堡以北约35英里处)。
从全美范围内迁移过来的人群中,最热门的目的地是偏远郊区。
其中最热门的包括:得克萨斯州达拉斯以外的科林县;得克萨斯州休斯顿以外的蒙哥马利县;亚利桑那州凤凰城以外的皮纳尔县;以及坦帕以外的帕斯科和波尔克县。
人口普查局称,偏远郊区的快速增长是新冠疫情的后续影响。住房成本上涨促使人们搬到离城市更远的地方,而远程办公使许多人能够每周至少有部分时间在家工作。
尽管纽约市的人口迁出多于迁入,但出生人数使得大都市区净增32,000多人。纽约大都市区在自然增长(出生人数超过死亡人数)方面领先全国,其次是达拉斯-沃斯堡和休斯顿大都市区。
死亡人数远超出生人数且差距最大的大都市区是宾夕法尼亚州的匹兹堡,以及佛罗里达州几个老年人口众多的社区——萨拉索塔、代托纳海滩和坦帕大都市区。
海伦·尤表示,这两个得克萨斯州大都市区在自然增长方面位居榜首,这得益于其年龄结构以及该地区是美国人口流入最多的地方。
她解释道:“数十年的国内和国际迁入使这些地区形成了相对年轻的人口结构,育龄人口占比很大,而老年人口比例相对较小。”
Census shows population growth slowing in U.S. metro areas. Here’s where the steepest declines are.
2026-03-26T08:24:00-0400 / CBS/AP
The rate of population growth in U.S. metro areas diminished nationwide in 2025, with those along the U.S.-Mexico border seeing the steepest dropoffs, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The agency primarily attributed the losses to declining immigration as well as hurricanes that prompted people to leave parts of the Gulf Coast.
The estimates showed that a majority of metro areas and counties had slower population gains last year, which the bureau attributed primarily to a slowdown in international migration, compared to the previous year when an influx of immigrants had helped urban areas recover from the COVID-19 pandemic a few years earlier.
The average growth rate for metro areas fell from 1.1% in 2024 to 0.6% in 2025.
The figures, covering one year through July 2025, reflect the initial months of President Donald Trump’s second term and the beginning of his administration’s immigration crackdown. With an aging America and birth rates in the U.S. declining over the past two decades, immigration has become an important source of growth in many communities.
“With so little natural increase, migration determines whether an area grows or declines, particularly in the big metro cores that have continuous domestic out-migration and are dependent on immigration,” said Kenneth Johnson, senior demographer at the University of New Hampshire.
The sharpest population declines
The sharpest declines in population growth rates in 2025 were seen in metropolitan areas along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the Census Bureau. Three places saw the most significant drops: Laredo, Texas, where the growth rate fell from 3.2% in 2024 to 0.2% in 2025; Yuma, Arizona, where it fell from 3.3% to 1.4%; and El Centro, California, where it fell from 1.2% to -0.7%.
Their shifting populations were largely due to lower levels of immigration, the bureau said. All three had experienced growth in 2024 because of an influx of thousands of immigrants.
“That pattern suggests a sharper rise-and-fall effect in border regions, where international migration plays a more central role in year-to-year population change,” said Helen You, interim director of the Texas Demographic Center.
As in 2024, the top destinations for immigrants in pure numbers in 2025 were counties that are home to Houston, Miami and Los Angeles. But the drop in immigrant numbers in those counties was stark. Nine out of 10 U.S. counties had lower levels of immigration in 2025 compared to 2024, according to the Census Bureau.
Two destructive hurricanes, Helene and Milton, tore through Gulf Coast counties in Florida in the fall of 2024, leaving behind tens of billions of dollars in damage. The storms also caused residents to leave, according to the population estimates.
Pinellas County, which is home to St. Petersburg, lost almost 12,000 residents, the second most in the U.S., trailing only Los Angeles County, which has been losing residents all decade. Pinellas County relies on migration for growth because deaths outpace births more than in any county in the U.S.
Taylor County, a tiny community ravaged by the hurricanes in Florida’s Big Bend area, had the steepest growth rate decline among U.S. counties last year, with a -2.2% drop.
But the hurricane migration wasn’t limited to Florida. In the Blue Ridge Mountains, the county that is home to Asheville, North Carolina, had more than 2,000 residents leaving in the months after the remnants of Hurricane Helene destroyed homes and cut off power and communications to mountain towns.
The New York metro area slid from growing by the most people in 2024 to ranking No. 13 in 2025 because of the drop in immigrants.
“The nation’s largest counties like those in the New York metro area are often international migration hubs, gaining large numbers of international migrants and losing people that move to other parts of the country via domestic migration,” said George Hayward, a Census Bureau demographer, in a statement. “With fewer gains from international migration, these types of counties saw their population growth diminish or even turn into loss.”
Biggest growth
Growth rates did increase in some areas in 2025, according to the Census Bureau. Topping the list of metro areas with rising populations in 2025 were Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth, followed by the Atlanta, Phoenix and Charlotte, North Carolina, metro areas.
Several midsize metros in Florida and South Carolina had the largest growth rates. Ocala, Florida, located 80 miles northwest of Orlando and known for its horse farms, led the nation at 3.4%. It was followed by: metro Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which has become a retirement haven; Spartanburg, South Carolina; Lakeland, Florida, located between the much larger metros of Tampa and Orlando; and Punta Gorda, Florida, about 35 miles north of Fort Myers.
The far-out suburbs were top destinations among those who had moved from somewhere else in the United States.
They were led by: Collin County, Texas, outside Dallas; Montgomery County, Texas, outside Houston; Pinal County, Arizona, outside Phoenix; and Pasco and Polk counties outside Tampa.
The rapid growth of far-flung exurbs is an after-effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Census Bureau. Rising housing costs drove people farther from cities, and remote work allowed many to do their jobs from home at least part of the week.
Even though New York had more people moving out than moving in, births allowed the metro area to gain more than 32,000 residents. The New York metro area led the nation in natural increase, or births outpacing deaths, followed by the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston metros.
The metros where deaths outpaced births in the greatest numbers were Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and several Florida communities with large senior populations — the Sarasota, Daytona Beach and Tampa metro areas.
The two Texas metro areas topped the charts in natural increase because of their age structure and the fact that they have gained more people than anywhere in the U.S., You said.
“Decades of domestic and international in-migration have produced relatively young populations, with a large share of residents in childbearing ages, alongside comparatively smaller proportions of senior populations,” she said.
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