Florida surpasses New York in population, now third-most populous state in U.S.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- It's official: Florida has surpassed New York in population to become the third-most populous state in the union.
Figures released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau show that Florida has at least 19.9 million residents. The number is likely higher since the Census uses the population as of July 1 to create its estimate. New York had 19.7 million residents.
Florida added almost 300,000 new residents from 2013 to 2014. By contrast, New York grew by only 51,000 over that time period. Florida likely reached the milestone sometime last spring, but it wasn't official until the Census said so.
An Associated Press analysis earlier this year showed that ex-New Yorkers represented about 1 in 10 new Florida residents. Migrants from other countries made up about a quarter of Florida's new residents. California (38.8 million people) and Texas (26.9 million people) are No. 1 and No. 2 in population ahead of the Sunshine State.
Gov. Rick Scott released the following statement:
''Today’s news of Florida officially becoming the third most populous state is exciting. As the holiday season approaches, we have learned in the last week that Florida businesses have added over 715,000 private-sector jobs in less than four years, far surpassing our goal to create 700,000 jobs in seven years. Our unemployment rate of 5.8 percent is also the lowest since 2008, and now we are overtaking New York as the third most populous state. Florida is on the way to become the number one destination for jobs and we continue to be the best place to live, work and raise a family. I look forward to more people and more job creators moving to Florida in the near future.''
Please contact Tamara Wright at [email protected] or 239.438.7898 for information on the Naples, Florida, real estate market.