LOCALIZE IT: How US counties grew or shrank last year

Census County Populations (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS:

Researchers and urban planners combing through the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates came across something rather unexpected: Many urban counties last year either gained residents or stemmed population losses in a reversal from trends of the previous year during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Population change is driven by migration, both within U.S. borders as people move around, and internationally as people arrive from abroad. It also depends on natural increases or decreases — whether births outpace deaths, or vice versa.

In its first full year, the pandemic had noticeable impacts on population change. Birth rates declined, and deaths rates went up. Many people left urban areas, and smaller communities experienced population gains.

The population estimates released Thursday showed some of those trends have reversed or slowed. In many of the urban counties that saw gains or smaller losses, it was because of international migration.

Here are some sources for data and other information you can use in reporting on population changes in the counties in your state.

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— Manhattan claws back people as urban counties stem outflow

— A look at how these counties, the country's 10 largest, gained or lost people:

Los Angeles County, California

Cook County, Illinois

Harris County, Texas

Maricopa County, Arizona

San Diego County, California

Orange County, California

Miami-Dade County, Florida

Dallas County, Texas

Kings County, New York

Riverside County, California

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EXPLORE RECENT CENSUS BUREAU REPORTS ON POPULATION CHANGES

Growth in the Nation’s Largest Counties Rebounds in 2022

Domestic Outmigration From Some Urban Counties Slowed, Smaller Gains in Rural Counties

New Census Bureau Population Estimates Show COVID-19 Impact on Fertility and Mortality Across the Nation

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FOCUS ON YOUR COMMUNITY

You can find information about population changes for your counties here: https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-counties-total.html. The data sets are grouped by state, and you will have to download a spreadsheet with all the counties for a particular state. To best understand what drove the population changes, look at the Annual and Cumulative Estimates of the Components of Resident Population Change for Counties in the United States: April 1, 2020, to July 1, 2022, tables. The Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020, to July 1, 2022, tables do not show what changed.

The components of change tables show numbers by natural increases or decreases and by migration, both domestic and international. They not only show year-to-year changes, but changes from the start of the spread of the pandemic in the U.S. from April 2020 through July 2022.

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TAKE YOUR REPORTING FURTHER

— Find answers to the big question: What drove population change in your county? Was it migration or natural change? If it was migration, did the new residents come from another country or another county? Interview local demographers at a university of city planners to see what attracted residents or drove them away. Housing costs? Economic opportunities? Interview someone who moved to your county in the past year to find out the motivation with an eye toward identifying trends.

— How did the changes compare to the previous year? Did population patterns continue in mid-2021 to mid-2022 as they did from mid-2020 to mid-2021? If not, what changed? Were schools that had closed because of the pandemic reopened? Did companies require workers to return to their offices?

— Look at the push-pull of migration among neighboring counties and how migration patterns differ among nearby counties. In California, almost 143,000 people moved out of Los Angeles County, and more than 13,000 people moved into nearby Riverside County. What was the relationship?

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Localize It is an occasional feature produced by The Associated Press for its customers’ use. Questions can be directed to Katie Oyan at koyan@ap.org.

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Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at @MikeSchneiderAP