Downtown Boise on Aug 13, 2024. (Kyle Pfannenstiel/Idaho Capital Sun)
After years of sharp population growth, Idaho is now home to about 2,001,619 people.
Idaho’s population growth appears to have slowed, but the largely rural state remains among the fastest growing states, according to estimates released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau and shared by the Idaho Department of Labor.
Most of the new Idahoans have been moving from out of state.
Idaho’s population grew by 1.5% — or around 30,500 people — from 2023 to 2024, based on estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau in July of those years.
That meant Idaho had the 7th highest population growth rate in the past year.
Idaho’s growth has slowed. Economic anxiety may be a reason, economist says.
Idaho’s growth rate isn’t as high as it has been in recent years. Since 2020, Idaho’s population has grown by 8.2% – or by about 152,000 people.
But still, Idaho has grown faster than the nation, which grew by 1% — around 3.3 million new people — from 2023 to 2024.
The cause of Idaho’s apparently slowed population growth is complicated, but economic anxiety might explain part of it, Idaho Department of Labor Regional Economist Jan Roeser told the Idaho Capital Sun in an interview.
“We could be slowing down, but I just think with people being concerned about inflation and the cost of living and the cost of housing — I just don’t think people are moving as readily as they were. They’re not changing jobs as frequently,” she said.
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Idaho still has plenty of jobs, she said, but new job postings have slowed.
Idaho, now estimated to be home to just over 2 million people, is the 38th most populated state; the state has remained at that rank since at least 2020.
New residents still mostly from other states
Most of Idaho’s population growth stems from people newly moving into the state, the U.S. Census Bureau data show.
In the past year, Idaho’s population only naturally grew by almost 6,200 people. That “natural growth” figure is the difference between the number of deaths of Idahoans (16,635) from the births of Idahoans (22,830) from 2023 to 2024.
Natural population growth only accounts for 20% of Idaho’s actual population growth in the past year.
The rest of Idaho’s new residents in the past year — nearly 24,300 people — newly migrated to Idaho, mostly from other U.S. states.
Since 2020, nearly three-quarters of Idaho’s population growth — 74.1% — has come from people moving to Idaho from other U.S. states.
Natural growth accounted for just 13.4% of Idaho’s population growth in the past four years. Migration from other countries accounted for 13.6% of Idaho’s growth in those years.
But that trend of migration from other states accounting for much of Idaho’s growth is also playing out across the country, Roeser told the Sun. More than half, 53.1%, of population growth across all U.S. states came from domestic migration in the past year, the census data show.
“The fertility rate has really bottomed out,” she said. “And part of that is economics. Part of that is generational.”
But still, Idaho — with high child population growth — in the past year had the 7th highest rate of children, who make up 23.4% of Idaho’s population, U.S. Census Bureau estimates show. Idaho also has the 8th lowest median age, of 37.8 years.
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