USA Today reports that the US Census Bureau has released population estimates for 2008.

Since 2000, the fastest-growing states in the US have been Utah, Arizona, Texas, North Carolina, and Colorado.

Other Notes:

  • The only two states to lose population were Michigan and Rhode Island. Michigan’s population declined 0.5 percent (46,000), while Rhode Island’s fell 0.2 percent (2,000).
  • California remained the most populous state, with about 36.8 million people on July 1, 2008. Rounding out the top five states were Texas (24.3 million), New York (19.5 million), Florida (18.3 million) and Illinois (12.9 million).
  • On the whole, the Northeastern states have gained population at an increasing rate since 2005, a turnaround from their declining growth rates from 2000 to 2005.
  • Six of the 10 fastest-growing states from 2007 to 2008 were Rocky Mountain states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. Three others lined the South Atlantic coast: Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
  • The West was the fastest-growing region (1.4 percent) between 2007 and 2008, but the South added the highest number of people over the period (1.4 million).

The complete data:

Geographic area Population estimate on July 1 Population on April 1, 2000 Change, 2000 to 2008 Percent
Alabama 4,661,900 4,447,355 214,545 4.8
Alaska 686,293 626,931 59,362 9.5
Arizona 6,500,180 5,130,607 1,369,573 26.7
Arkansas 2,855,390 2,673,386 182,004 6.8
California 36,756,666 33,871,650 2,885,016 8.5
Colorado 4,939,456 4,302,015 637,441 14.8
Connecticut 3,501,252 3,405,604 95,648 2.8
Delaware 873,092 783,595 89,497 11.4
District of Columbia 591,833 572,053 19,780 3.5
Florida 18,328,340 15,982,813 2,345,527 14.7
Georgia 9,685,744 8,186,812 1,498,932 18.3
Hawaii 1,288,198 1,211,538 76,660 6.3
Idaho 1,523,816 1,293,955 229,861 17.8
Illinois 12,901,563 12,419,660 481,903 3.9
Indiana 6,376,792 6,080,522 296,270 4.9
Iowa 3,002,555 2,926,381 76,174 2.6
Kansas 2,802,134 2,688,816 113,318 4.2
Kentucky 4,269,245 4,042,284 226,961 5.6
Louisiana 4,410,796 4,468,968 -58,172 -1.3
Maine 1,316,456 1,274,922 41,534 3.3
Maryland 5,633,597 5,296,516 337,081 6.4
Massachusetts 6,497,967 6,349,113 148,854 2.3
Michigan 10,003,422 9,938,492 64,930 0.7
Minnesota 5,220,393 4,919,492 300,901 6.1
Mississippi 2,938,618 2,844,666 93,952 3.3
Missouri 5,911,605 5,596,678 314,927 5.6
Montana 967,440 902,190 65,250 7.2
Nebraska 1,783,432 1,711,266 72,166 4.2
Nevada 2,600,167 1,998,257 601,910 30.1
New Hampshire 1,315,809 1,235,785 80,024 6.5
New Jersey 8,682,661 8,414,360 268,301 3.2
New Mexico 1,984,356 1,819,041 165,315 9.1
New York 19,490,297 18,976,816 513,481 2.7
North Carolina 9,222,414 8,046,500 1,175,914 14.6
North Dakota 641,481 642,195 -714 -0.1
Ohio 11,485,910 11,353,160 132,750 1.2
Oklahoma 3,642,361 3,450,640 191,721 5.6
Oregon 3,790,060 3,421,437 368,623 10.8
Pennsylvania 12,448,279 12,281,052 167,227 1.4
Rhode Island 1,050,788 1,048,319 2,469 0.2
South Carolina 4,479,800 4,011,809 467,991 11.7
South Dakota 804,194 754,837 49,357 6.5
Tennessee 6,214,888 5,689,270 525,618 9.2
Texas 24,326,974 20,851,811 3,475,163 16.7
Utah 2,736,424 2,233,204 503,220 22.5
Vermont 621,270 608,826 12,444 2.0
Virginia 7,769,089 7,079,025 690,064 9.7
Washington 6,549,224 5,894,143 655,081 11.1
West Virginia 1,814,468 1,808,345 6,123 0.3
Wisconsin 5,627,967 5,363,708 264,259 4.9
Wyoming 532,668 493,782 38,886 7.9
Puerto Rico 3,954,037 3,808,603 145,434 3.8