On January 27, 2026, the U.S. Census Bureau released annual population estimates for U.S. States and Puerto Rico for July 1, 2024. According to the Vintage 2025 estimates, the Massachusetts population grew modestly from July 1, 2024 to 2025, experiencing both positive natural increase and immigration. The state population increased by 15,524 over the year, from 7,138,560 to 7,154,084, representing a percentage increase of 0.2%. This 0.2% percentage increase represents a slowdown in population growth compared to the previous year’s Vintage 2024 estimate, when the Census Bureau estimated a 1.0% increase in the state population from 2023 to 2024 and the largest population increase, numbers wise, in 60 years.

In terms of national rankings, Massachusetts held its rank as the 16th most populous state this year out of 50 states plus District of Columbia. Massachusetts ranked 27th in numeric population change and 31st in percent population change in the July 1, 2024 to July 1, 2025 period, dropping in rank from 13th in population change and 15th in percent population change in the previous year. Within the Northeast Region, it ranked 6th out of 9 states in percentage growth, ahead of only Pennsylvania (.10%), New York (0.01%), and Vermont (-0.29%). In terms of numeric population change, however, Massachusetts ranked 2nd in the Northeast region with 15,524 people added, behind New Jersey at 41,861 and just ahead of Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire, which added 14,047, 13,584, and 6,824, respectively. Among the seven New England states, it added the most population in the year.

The largest driver by far of the estimated population increase from 2023 to 2024 in Massachusetts is attributed to net immigration, estimated at 90,217 for the state for that year. The Vintage 2024 estimates (V2024) are significant for Massachusetts in that they show the highest levels of immigration seen since at least 1990. Prior to V2024, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated immigration primarily according to ACS survey response data on place of birth and residence one year ago. In the current series, the U.S. Census Bureau revised their method for estimating immigration to include an expanded pool of administrative records from Homeland Security and other agencies in order to capture the immigration surge documented in increasing border encounters. 

The largest driver of the estimated population increase from 2024 to 2025 in Massachusetts was net natural increase of 8,419 — or 68,055 births over 59,636 deaths. This is a departure from usual trends in the state, where immigration is usually the component driving most population growth. According to the Census estimates, immigration that had been increasing year over year since 2021, peaking at 77,957 in 2024, fell off sharply in 2025 to 40,240. Massachusetts has a long history of positive net immigration into the state offsetting negative domestic outmigration from the state, and in the 2025 estimate immigration still outweighs the estimated 33,340 people leaving the state for other parts of the U.S. by 6,900. Nationally, the V2025 estimates indicate that Massachusetts has the fourth highest rate of annual net international immigration per 1,000 population and trails only Florida, Washington State, and the District of Columbia. In terms of the sheer number of net immigrants, Massachusetts ranks 11th in the 2025 estimates.

See the dashboard below for more information on the Massachusetts components of change estimates.