Florida's Population Just Passed 23 Million For The First Time

As Florida’s population passes 23 million for the first time ever, the Sunshine State may have to change its name to the Twilight State someday soon – not for a sudden influx in sparkly vampires, but retirees.

According to a report released Friday by the state’s Demographic Estimating Conference, there were 23,002,597 people living in the state as of April 1 this year. It’s a remarkable increase on the 20 million residents reported back in 2015 , and comes thanks to an annual increase of between 300,000 and 380,000 every year for the past decade.

With data showing an increase of 365,205 in 2023 alone , Florida has cemented its place as the state with the second-largest population growth by both percentage (beaten only by South Carolina) and raw numbers (beaten only by Texas).

Much of this growth comes from a not-unexpected source: boomers. Florida is famously popular with retirees from out of state – in fact, one study from 2023 named Florida the most popular state in the country for baby boomers looking to relocate – and with almost one in ten residents past the age of 75, it’s also home to the second-largest population percentage of elderly folks in the country, according to 2023 census data.

But that growth is not projected to continue at such pace. Deaths have been outpacing births in the state – a trend which has been continuous since late 2019 and early 2020 – and that’s predicted to continue for quite some time. Meanwhile, the flow of retirees is set to slow down by the end of the decade, as the final cohorts of boomers enter retirement (Generation X, the next demographic group by age, is much smaller population-wise and less well-off, so taking up the reins of the Florida retirement industry may not be on the cards for them.)

It's not all golden oldies pushing the population up, however. The state is also the second-most popular destination for middle-class Millennials looking to move, and more than one in five Floridians were born outside of the US. Higher immigrant populations generally correlate to younger demographics – those are the people who come with kids, after all – and it may be thanks to them that four of the five fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the US were found to be in Florida this year.

And not all immigrants to Florida are from outside the US. Nearly three-quarters of the 2023 population increase came from people moving from other states – chief among which was New York, who said “so long, and good luck in Florida” to some 91,000 people this year. That’s more than the number coming from California and Georgia, who took the second and third spots respectively, combined.

So, keep your eyes peeled, folks – there’s never been more Florida Men and Women than there are now. What a time to be alive .