These RI Counties Are Shrinking, New Census Report Shows

RHODE ISLAND — More than half Rhode Island's counties shrank in 2023, according to new Census Bureau population estimates.

The Vintage 2023 report released March 14 showed more U.S. counties saw population growth than decline, with the fastest growth occurring in the South and population losses mostly concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest, regions that saw their populations plunge with the pandemic.

In Rhode Island, three of five counties shrank in 2023, according to the estimates. The only counties that grew were Bristol and Providence. By comparison, four counties shrank in 2022. Only Kent County grew, and by a minuscule number.

All counties in Rhode Island as well as Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Jersey experienced positive net international migration.

Overall, 60 percent (1,876) of U.S. counties gained population in 2023, an increase from 52 percent (1,649) of counties that grew from 2021 to 2022.

Regions of the country that saw large numbers of people leaving during the early pandemic are starting to recover, Lauren Bowers, who heads the Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Branch, said in a news release. At the same time, growth is slowing in some areas of the West, such as Arizona and Idaho.

The report also showed that 80 percent of U.S. counties saw populations grow through immigration. The highest numbers were in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Harris County, Texas. All counties in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island experienced positive net international migration.

Florida saw growth in 96 percent of its 67 counties. Other states where a large percentage of counties grew were Idaho and Tennessee.

The 10 fastest-growing counties with a population of 20,000 or more were in the South — six in Texas, two in Georgia, and one each in South Carolina and Virginia.

Eight of the 10 counties that led the nation with the highest population increases were in Texas. At the same time, Maricopa County, Arizona, which had been the fastest growing county in 2022, dropped to No. 4, and Polk County, Florida, the only other non-Texas county in the top 10, came in at No. 5.

The fastest-declining counties of 20,000 or more were Lassen County, California, and Randolph County, Missouri. The population in Bronx County, New York, also continued to decline.

Los Angeles County, California, saw the greatest population loss in 2023, with 56,420 in 2023 — following a loss of 89,697 people in 2022. Kings, Queens, and Bronx counties in New York followed with population losses of 28,306; 26,362; and 25,332, respectively.

Among other large declines were Cook County, Illinois, which lost 24,494 people; Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, which lost 16,294 people; and Orange County, California, which lost 14,617 people.

The report noted that as the nation’s death rate declined in 2023 from pandemic-era highs, so did population decreases as a result of natural causes. Deaths outnumbered births in fewer counties in 2023, with 69 percent reporting a natural decrease in population, compared to 74 percent in 2022.

Births outnumbered deaths in nearly one-third (31 percent) of counties in 2023, led by Alaska and New Jersey. The counties with the highest levels of natural population increases in 2023 were Harris County, Texas; Los Angeles County, California; Dallas County, Texas; Kings County, New York; and Tarrant County, Texas.

Almost three-fourths (73 percent) of the nation’s 387 metro areas saw population growth from 2022 to 2023. Approximately 58 percent of the nation’s 538 “micro areas” — urban areas of 10,000-50,000 population — saw their populations increase.