Texas added 379,000 more residents between July of 2017 and July of 2018, according to the latest report from the Census Bureau, making Texas once again the biggest population gainer in terms of numbers in the country, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"Texas grew both from having more births than deaths and from net gains in movers from within and outside the United States," the Census Bureau said in its report.
The Census Bureau says much of the growth in the Texas population in the past year came from the states which are losing the most people, mainly Illinois, New York, and Louisiana. The rest came from immigration from other nations, and an excess of births over deaths.
The entire U.S. population today is 327 million, that is up .6% in the past year, marking the slowest rate of annual increase in U.S. population since 1937.
The Census Bureau cites many reasons for the sluggish growth, mainly a substantially lower U.S. birth rate. There were 59.8 births per 1,000 women in the year included in the study. That is a record low and 14% below the birth rate 10 years ago.
In fact, the U.S. is approaching the level which is now being seen in many European countries, where deaths outnumber births, leading to a negative growth rate.
Because of that, the Census Bureau says immigration is playing a larger role than ever in U.S. population growth.
Nearly half of the country's entire growth in the past year has been from immigration, that is up from 35% as recently as 2011.
The death rate in the U.S. is also increasing, due largely to the opioid epidemic.
The Census Bureau in a few months will release population figures for America's cities and towns during that same period. Of course, in 2020 comes the next decennial census, which will determine how political power will shift due to population changes.