Pennsylvania is among a handful of states that is seeing its population shrink, writes Jess Thomason for Newsweek.
It joins New York, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Oregon and West Virginia in showing population declines.
Delaware County’s population showed virtually no change between 2020 and 2023, adding only 364 people, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
In 2020, its population was 576,356. In 2023, the population was 576,720.
The county added 536 people in 2021, but it lost 1,019 people in 2022, then added 847 people back in 2023.
Statewide, Pennsylvania lost 41,105 people between 2020, when its population was 13,002,788, and July 1, 2023, when its population stood at 12,961,683.
Most of the state’s 67 counties have seen population declines in the past three years.
The shrinking population in Pennsylvania may be part of a migration trend to more southern states.
“People move from one state to another for jobs, lower cost of housing, lower state taxes, better levels of living. Here Texas and Florida have all the benefits, and California and New York don’t,” said Dudley Poston, an emeritus professior of sociology at Texas A&M University.
Pennsylvania’s deaths are also outpacing births, the data shows.
Compare Delaware County’s population to other counties in Pennsylvania in Newsweek.
