Editors at National Review Online argue that Americans are “voting with their feet” for red states.
The latest Census Bureau population estimates are in. Halfway through the 2020s, they show a tectonic shift in America’s population, a decided preference among Americans to vote with their feet for red-state over blue-state governance, and the dramatic demographic effects of replacing Joe Biden’s border policies with those of Donald Trump.
The population grew slowly in 2025, but that was mostly because of the border. On the whole, the U.S. has added 10.3 million people since the 2020 Census, bringing us to a nation of 341.8 million. Only a fifth of that growth — 1.9 million — has been from the natural increase of births over deaths; the other 8.3 million have been new arrivals. The low rate of births, by itself, is deeply concerning; the notion of a future in which we add four new immigrants for every net increase of one homegrown American is alarming.
Net international migration shot up under Biden from 1.7 million in 2022 to 2.2 million in 2023 and 2.7 million in 2024. It fell off to under 1.3 million in 2025. The foreign-born population dropped from 53.3 million to 51.9 million just between January and June of 2025, the biggest driver of which was a collapse from the historic 2022–24 peak in “humanitarian migrants.” Border policy matters.
The list of fastest-growing states in 2025, as usual, was dominated by those with Republican governments, led by South Carolina, Idaho, North Carolina, Texas, and Utah. The five states that lost population were mostly deep blue — Vermont, Hawaii, West Virginia, New Mexico, and California, with New York just barely breaking even.
The six states with the highest per capita rates of net internal migration are likewise a red-dominated list: South Carolina, Idaho, North Carolina, Delaware, Tennessee, and Montana. The biggest losers, per capita: New York, Hawaii, Alaska, D.C., California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Illinois. We sense a trend.
