Pull up a map of the United States, and the US Population 2028 story tells itself almost entirely through geography. Instead of opening with a list of headline statistics, this guide takes a different route: it walks the country region by region, the South, the West, the Midwest, the Northeast, and pauses in each one to show what the numbers actually look like on the ground. Tables, demographic detail, and growth trends are woven directly into each regional stop rather than stacked separately at the end, so by the time you finish reading, you will have toured the entire US Population 2028 landscape, not just scanned a spreadsheet.
One housekeeping note before the tour begins: every figure here is a rounded, well-sourced estimate, not a literal headcount. The U.S. Census Bureau, Worldometer, and independent econometric trackers each build their US Population 2028 numbers slightly differently, which is why a credible figure for this year should always be read as a range, roughly 348 to 351 million people nationally, rather than a single fixed digit.
Stop One: The National Picture, Before the Tour Begins
Before splitting into regions, it helps to know the shape of the whole country. The United States enters 2028 holding its long-standing position as the third most populous nation on Earth, trailing only India and China. Annual growth sits at roughly 0.5%, modest by global standards but still meaningful at this scale, adding somewhere around 1.7 to 1.9 million people over the course of the year.
The single biggest structural fact underlying every number in this guide: fertility has fallen below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman, which means natural increase, births minus deaths, no longer drives national growth on its own. International migration has taken over as the primary engine, a shift that shapes nearly everything else in this tour.
Fast facts before we move on:
- National median age: approximately 39.3 years
- Life expectancy at birth: approximately 79.2 years (76.7 for men, 81.6 for women)
- Adults identifying as religiously unaffiliated: roughly 29%
- Adults identifying as Christian: roughly 62% to 65%
- Basic literacy rate: above 99%, though functional literacy gaps persist for an estimated one in five adults
Stop Two: The South, Where Most of the Growth Lives
The South is not just the most populous American region; it is the engine room of the entire country’s growth story. Close to 40% of the national population now calls this region home, and that share keeps climbing every year as people relocate from the Northeast and Midwest in search of lower costs, warmer weather, and faster job growth.
Texas and Florida anchor this region’s expansion almost single-handedly, each adding hundreds of thousands of residents annually. Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina trail just behind, all posting growth rates comfortably above the national average. The Census Bureau projects this Southern tilt will continue uninterrupted through at least the early 2030s.
Southern States, Ranked by Population (Rounded)
| State | Population |
|---|---|
| Texas | 31.6 million |
| Florida | 23.6 million |
| Georgia | 11.5 million |
| North Carolina | 11.3 million |
| Virginia | 9.0 million |
| Tennessee | 7.4 million |
| South Carolina | 5.65 million |
| Alabama | 5.22 million |
| Louisiana | 4.61 million |
| Kentucky | 4.61 million |
| Oklahoma | 4.18 million |
| Arkansas | 3.11 million |
| Mississippi | 2.95 million |
| West Virginia | 1.75 million |
| District of Columbia | 0.71 million |
Stop Three: The West, Big Land, Concentrated People
The West holds the second-largest regional population in the country, but its story is one of extreme concentration. California alone accounts for the bulk of this region’s total, even though its own growth rate has slowed to a near crawl in recent years.
Beyond California, the real action is happening in smaller, faster-growing states. Idaho and Utah post some of the highest percentage growth rates anywhere in the nation, driven by a combination of remote work flexibility, relative affordability, and steady in-migration from costlier coastal states.
Western States, Ranked by Population (Rounded)
| State | Population |
|---|---|
| California | 39.6 million |
| Washington | 8.15 million |
| Arizona | 7.95 million |
| Colorado | 6.05 million |
| Oregon | 4.31 million |
| Utah | 3.61 million |
| Nevada | 3.29 million |
| New Mexico | 2.14 million |
| Idaho | 2.10 million |
| Hawaii | 1.44 million |
| Montana | 1.15 million |
| Alaska | 0.73 million |
| Wyoming | 0.59 million |
Stop Four: The Midwest, Stable but Quietly Shifting
The Midwest doesn’t make headlines the way the Sun Belt does, and that’s largely the point. This region’s population has settled into a pattern of slow, steady stability rather than dramatic growth or decline.
Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan remain the three population anchors, together holding well over a third of the entire region’s residents. Smaller Midwestern states, particularly in the Great Plains, continue posting flat or barely positive growth, a pattern that has held for over a decade now.
Midwestern States, Ranked by Population (Rounded)
| State | Population |
|---|---|
| Illinois | 12.6 million |
| Ohio | 11.9 million |
| Michigan | 10.1 million |
| Indiana | 6.95 million |
| Missouri | 6.33 million |
| Wisconsin | 6.02 million |
| Minnesota | 5.89 million |
| Iowa | 3.26 million |
| Kansas | 2.97 million |
| Nebraska | 2.02 million |
| South Dakota | 0.94 million |
| North Dakota | 0.81 million |
Stop Five: The Northeast, The Region Losing the Tug of War
If the South represents where the country is gaining population, the Northeast represents where it is losing the most ground, at least relatively.
New York remains a population heavyweight in raw numbers, but its growth rate has flattened to nearly zero, and several smaller Northeastern states are flirting with outright decline. The exodus toward the South and West shows up nowhere more clearly than in this region’s stagnant year-over-year figures.
Northeastern States, Ranked by Population (Rounded)
| State | Population |
|---|---|
| New York | 19.7 million |
| Pennsylvania | 13.15 million |
| New Jersey | 9.45 million |
| Massachusetts | 7.23 million |
| Connecticut | 3.70 million |
| New Hampshire | 1.42 million |
| Maine | 1.40 million |
| Rhode Island | 1.10 million |
| Vermont | 0.65 million |
Stop Six: Inside the Counties, A Closer Zoom
Zooming past states into counties reveals where Americans actually cluster on the ground. Los Angeles County alone holds more people than 40 individual U.S. states. The pattern across the largest counties closely mirrors the regional story already told above; county growth is concentrated heavily in Texas, Florida, and Arizona, while many Northeastern and Midwestern counties hold steady or shrink slightly.
The 50 Largest U.S. Counties (Rounded)
| County | State | Population |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles County | California | 9.55 million |
| Cook County | Illinois | 5.08 million |
| Harris County | Texas | 4.97 million |
| Maricopa County | Arizona | 4.68 million |
| San Diego County | California | 3.32 million |
| Orange County | California | 3.20 million |
| Miami-Dade County | Florida | 2.78 million |
| Dallas County | Texas | 2.68 million |
| Kings County | New York | 2.59 million |
| Riverside County | California | 2.55 million |
| Clark County | Nevada | 2.45 million |
| King County | Washington | 2.34 million |
| Queens County | New York | 2.24 million |
| Tarrant County | Texas | 2.25 million |
| San Bernardino County | California | 2.22 million |
| Bexar County | Texas | 2.09 million |
| Santa Clara County | California | 1.96 million |
| Broward County | Florida | 1.98 million |
| Wayne County | Michigan | 1.69 million |
| Alameda County | California | 1.71 million |
| New York County | New York | 1.64 million |
| Middlesex County | Massachusetts | 1.66 million |
| Palm Beach County | Florida | 1.64 million |
| Travis County | Texas | 1.39 million |
| Suffolk County | New York | 1.49 million |
| Hillsborough County | Florida | 1.64 million |
| Sacramento County | California | 1.62 million |
| Nassau County | New York | 1.39 million |
| Orange County | Florida | 1.59 million |
| Franklin County | Ohio | 1.37 million |
| Cuyahoga County | Ohio | 1.24 million |
| Allegheny County | Pennsylvania | 1.24 million |
| Fairfax County | Virginia | 1.16 million |
| Salt Lake County | Utah | 1.23 million |
| Contra Costa County | California | 1.21 million |
| Oakland County | Michigan | 1.27 million |
| Hennepin County | Minnesota | 1.28 million |
| Wake County | North Carolina | 1.22 million |
| Mecklenburg County | North Carolina | 1.23 million |
| Collin County | Texas | 1.22 million |
| Pima County | Arizona | 1.08 million |
| Fresno County | California | 1.06 million |
| Bergen County | New Jersey | 0.96 million |
| Westchester County | New York | 1.00 million |
| Montgomery County | Maryland | 1.06 million |
| Gwinnett County | Georgia | 1.01 million |
| Denton County | Texas | 1.03 million |
| Fort Bend County | Texas | 0.96 million |
| Davidson County | Tennessee | 0.73 million |
| El Paso County | Texas | 0.88 million |
Stop Seven: The City Skyline, All 100 of Them
No regional tour is complete without the cities themselves. New York remains in a class of its own, larger than the next two cities on the list combined. But the more interesting movement is happening further down the rankings, where Sun Belt cities like Phoenix, San Antonio, and Fort Worth keep climbing while several legacy Northeastern and Midwestern cities slip each year slightly.
Top 100 Cities by Population (Rounded)
| Rank | City, State | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York City, NY | 8.42 million |
| 2 | Los Angeles, CA | 3.86 million |
| 3 | Chicago, IL | 2.67 million |
| 4 | Houston, TX | 2.43 million |
| 5 | Phoenix, AZ | 1.74 million |
| 6 | Philadelphia, PA | 1.56 million |
| 7 | San Antonio, TX | 1.56 million |
| 8 | San Diego, CA | 1.41 million |
| 9 | Dallas, TX | 1.36 million |
| 10 | Jacksonville, FL | 1.03 million |
| 11 | Austin, TX | 1.01 million |
| 12 | Fort Worth, TX | 1.02 million |
| 13 | San Jose, CA | 0.97 million |
| 14 | Charlotte, NC | 0.94 million |
| 15 | Columbus, OH | 0.92 million |
| 16 | Indianapolis, IN | 0.89 million |
| 17 | San Francisco, CA | 0.85 million |
| 18 | Seattle, WA | 0.79 million |
| 19 | Denver, CO | 0.73 million |
| 20 | Nashville, TN | 0.70 million |
| 21 | Oklahoma City, OK | 0.71 million |
| 22 | Washington, D.C. | 0.70 million |
| 23 | El Paso, TX | 0.69 million |
| 24 | Boston, MA | 0.66 million |
| 25 | Las Vegas, NV | 0.67 million |
| 26 | Portland, OR | 0.64 million |
| 27 | Louisville, KY | 0.63 million |
| 28 | Detroit, MI | 0.61 million |
| 29 | Memphis, TN | 0.60 million |
| 30 | Baltimore, MD | 0.56 million |
| 31 | Milwaukee, WI | 0.56 million |
| 32 | Albuquerque, NM | 0.57 million |
| 33 | Tucson, AZ | 0.56 million |
| 34 | Fresno, CA | 0.55 million |
| 35 | Sacramento, CA | 0.54 million |
| 36 | Mesa, AZ | 0.52 million |
| 37 | Atlanta, GA | 0.52 million |
| 38 | Kansas City, MO | 0.51 million |
| 39 | Colorado Springs, CO | 0.50 million |
| 40 | Omaha, NE | 0.50 million |
| 41 | Raleigh, NC | 0.50 million |
| 42 | Long Beach, CA | 0.46 million |
| 43 | Virginia Beach, VA | 0.46 million |
| 44 | Miami, FL | 0.46 million |
| 45 | Minneapolis, MN | 0.43 million |
| 46 | Oakland, CA | 0.43 million |
| 47 | Bakersfield, CA | 0.42 million |
| 48 | Tulsa, OK | 0.41 million |
| 49 | Tampa, FL | 0.41 million |
| 50 | Arlington, TX | 0.40 million |
| 51 | Wichita, KS | 0.40 million |
| 52 | Aurora, CO | 0.40 million |
| 53 | New Orleans, LA | 0.37 million |
| 54 | Cleveland, OH | 0.36 million |
| 55 | Anaheim, CA | 0.35 million |
| 56 | Honolulu, HI | 0.35 million |
| 57 | Henderson, NV | 0.34 million |
| 58 | Lexington, KY | 0.33 million |
| 59 | Stockton, CA | 0.32 million |
| 60 | Corpus Christi, TX | 0.32 million |
| 61 | Riverside, CA | 0.32 million |
| 62 | Irvine, CA | 0.32 million |
| 63 | Saint Paul, MN | 0.31 million |
| 64 | Santa Ana, CA | 0.31 million |
| 65 | Cincinnati, OH | 0.31 million |
| 66 | Orlando, FL | 0.32 million |
| 67 | Pittsburgh, PA | 0.30 million |
| 68 | Greensboro, NC | 0.30 million |
| 69 | Plano, TX | 0.30 million |
| 70 | Durham, NC | 0.29 million |
| 71 | Lincoln, NE | 0.29 million |
| 72 | Jersey City, NJ | 0.29 million |
| 73 | Chandler, AZ | 0.29 million |
| 74 | Buffalo, NY | 0.27 million |
| 75 | Toledo, OH | 0.27 million |
| 76 | Madison, WI | 0.27 million |
| 77 | St. Petersburg, FL | 0.27 million |
| 78 | Lubbock, TX | 0.26 million |
| 79 | Chula Vista, CA | 0.27 million |
| 80 | Reno, NV | 0.27 million |
| 81 | Gilbert, AZ | 0.28 million |
| 82 | North Las Vegas, NV | 0.27 million |
| 83 | Fort Wayne, IN | 0.27 million |
| 84 | Norfolk, VA | 0.24 million |
| 85 | Laredo, TX | 0.26 million |
| 86 | Glendale, AZ | 0.25 million |
| 87 | Winston-Salem, NC | 0.25 million |
| 88 | Scottsdale, AZ | 0.25 million |
| 89 | Garland, TX | 0.24 million |
| 90 | Irving, TX | 0.24 million |
| 91 | Hialeah, FL | 0.22 million |
| 92 | Boise, ID | 0.25 million |
| 93 | Fremont, CA | 0.23 million |
| 94 | Richmond, VA | 0.23 million |
| 95 | Spokane, WA | 0.23 million |
| 96 | Baton Rouge, LA | 0.22 million |
| 97 | Tacoma, WA | 0.22 million |
| 98 | San Bernardino, CA | 0.22 million |
| 99 | Des Moines, IA | 0.22 million |
| 100 | Modesto, CA | 0.22 million |
Stop Eight: How Crowded Does It Actually Feel
Total population only tells half the story. A city of half a million spread across a wide footprint feels nothing like a city of half a million packed into a few square miles. This is where density numbers come in, and they reshuffle the rankings entirely.
New York remains the undisputed density leader by a wide margin, but several smaller cities, San Francisco, Jersey City, and Boston, post density figures that rival or exceed those of much larger metros.
Population Density, Top 25 Cities (People per Square Mile, Rounded)
| City | Density |
|---|---|
| New York City, NY | 28,400 |
| San Francisco, CA | 18,700 |
| Jersey City, NJ | 18,100 |
| Boston, MA | 14,400 |
| Chicago, IL | 11,750 |
| Philadelphia, PA | 11,450 |
| Miami, FL | 11,150 |
| Washington, D.C. | 11,050 |
| Santa Ana, CA | 10,850 |
| Newark, NJ | 10,750 |
| Los Angeles, CA | 8,350 |
| Seattle, WA | 9,350 |
| Long Beach, CA | 9,250 |
| Minneapolis, MN | 7,950 |
| Buffalo, NY | 6,050 |
| Milwaukee, WI | 6,250 |
| Honolulu, HI | 5,550 |
| Sacramento, CA | 5,450 |
| Portland, OR | 4,850 |
| Denver, CO | 4,750 |
| Las Vegas, NV | 4,550 |
| St. Louis, MO | 5,050 |
| San Diego, CA | 4,450 |
| Baltimore, MD | 7,550 |
| Atlanta, GA | 3,950 |
Stop Nine: Who Is Climbing, Who Is Slipping
Every region has its standout movers, the places growing fast enough to reshape the map, and the places losing residents quietly year after year. These two short tables capture both ends of that spectrum.
Fastest-Growing States and Cities
| Geography | Annual Growth Rate |
|---|---|
| Idaho (state) | +1.95% |
| Texas (state) | +1.82% |
| Florida (state) | +1.78% |
| Utah (state) | +1.72% |
| Arizona (state) | +1.52% |
| Nevada (state) | +1.48% |
| South Carolina (state) | +1.40% |
| Georgetown, TX (city) | +8.7% |
| Phoenix, AZ (city) | +3.9% |
| Boise, ID (city) | +3.4% |
| Austin, TX (city) | +2.9% |
| Charlotte, NC (city) | +2.3% |
| Raleigh, NC (city) | +2.2% |
| Fort Worth, TX (city) | +2.1% |
Fastest-Shrinking States and Cities
| Geography | Annual Change Rate |
|---|---|
| West Virginia (state) | -0.4% |
| Alaska (state) | -0.2% |
| Mississippi (state) | near flat |
| Illinois (state) | near flat |
| Vermont (state) | near flat |
| Jackson, MS (city) | -1.6% |
| San Francisco, CA (city) | -0.6% |
| Cleveland, OH (city) | -0.5% |
| Pittsburgh, PA (city) | -0.4% |
| New York City, NY (city) | -0.3% |
| Chicago, IL (city) | -0.3% |
| Detroit, MI (city) | -0.3% |
| Baltimore, MD (city) | -0.3% |
Stop Ten: Who Lives Here, A Demographic Snapshot
A regional tour wouldn’t be complete without stopping to look at who actually makes up the population in each of these places.
Age and sex
The country’s age structure keeps tilting older. Roughly 21% of residents are under 18, about 60% fall between 18 and 64, and approximately 18.5% are 65 or older, a share rising every year as the Baby Boomer generation moves deeper into retirement.
Ethnicity
Non-Hispanic White Americans remain the largest group at roughly 57%, down from nearly 69% in 2000. Hispanic or Latino Americans form the largest minority at approximately 19.2%. Black or African American residents represent roughly 13.5%, Asian Americans around 6.3%, and the multiracial population continues growing fastest in percentage terms, now near 4.2%.
Religion
Christianity remains the majority faith, claimed by roughly 62% to 65% of adults, split mainly between Protestant (around 40%) and Catholic (around 19%) traditions. Religious “nones,” those identifying as atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular, sit at approximately 29%, a figure that has held steady after years of rapid growth. Non-Christian faiths together account for roughly 6% to 7%.
Life expectancy
Americans live to approximately 79.2 years on average, with women outliving men by close to five years (81.6 versus 76.7).
Literacy
Basic literacy remains above 99% nationally, but functional literacy assessments continue to find that roughly one in five adults struggles with more complex reading and numeracy tasks, a gap tied closely to income and regional educational access.
Final Stop: 10 Trends Worth Watching as the Tour Ends
- Immigration now does the heavy lifting for national growth, with fertility stuck well below replacement level.
- The South and West keep absorbing population that the Northeast and Midwest are quietly losing.
- Aging accelerates nationwide as the Boomer generation moves further into its retirement years.
- Racial and ethnic diversity continues expanding fastest among Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial populations.
- Religious affiliation keeps drifting toward “unaffiliated,” though the pace of that shift has slowed.
- Urban density patterns are diverging; coastal legacy cities stay dense, Sun Belt cities sprawl outward instead.
- Household formation keeps getting delayed by housing costs, pushing first-time parenthood and homeownership later.
- Educational attainment keeps climbing on paper even as functional literacy gaps persist in specific populations.
- Congressional apportionment keeps shifting toward Sun Belt states as their populations grow relative to the Northeast.
- County-level data increasingly tells a sharper story than state-level data, since growth and decline are often hyper-local even within a single state.
Closing the Loop
Touring the country this way, region by region rather than table by table, makes one thing clear: the national population figure is really just an average sitting on top of wildly different local realities. The South is absorbing growth that the Northeast is shedding. The West holds an enormous scale concentrated in a handful of states. The Midwest sits quietly stable while the rest of the map shifts around it. Put together, these regional currents are what actually produce the national total, and they are likely to keep flowing in the same direction for the rest of this decade.
Figures throughout this guide are rounded estimates sourced from U.S. Census Bureau data, Worldometer, and supporting demographic research, reviewed periodically as updated figures become available.
