According to the U.S. Census Bureau report, Florida has been experiencing continued population growth across the South with four of the top five fastest-growing metropolitan statistical areas and three of the top 10 that gained the largest number of people from 2022 to 2023. In fact, four out of the five fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the country are located in Florida. Sumter County’s Wildwood and The Villages touts the highest population growth rate in the U.S. at nearly 5%, followed by Lakeland-Winter Haven at almost 4%. Ocala and Port St. Lucie, the fourth and fifth fastest-growing metro areas in the U.S., respectively, had a population growth of more than 3% each with 409,959 and 536,901. The population growth in Florida’s metropolitan areas is indicative of a larger trend of widespread population growth across the South, which is the nation’s fastest-growing region. All of the top 10 fastest-growing U.S. metropolitan areas from 2022 to 2023 are located in the South. Florida’s more populous metropolitan areas are among the nation’s top 10 in terms of numeric population gains. From 2022 to 2023, three metropolitan areas collectively added nearly 150,000 residents: Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford (54,916), Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater (51,622), and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach (43,387). These three areas are the fourth, fifth, and tenth largest numeric gaining metropolitan areas in the country, respectively.
