U.S. Population Projected to Grow More Slowly through 2050

July 14, 2026

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The Weldon Cooper Center has released a new vintage of population projections for the United States as a whole, all 50 states, and the District of Columbia. The product is benchmarked on the 2020 Decennial Census and the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2025 Population Estimates. The projections extend through 2050 and provide a consistent framework for examining future population outlook across states and regions.

National population growth remains positive but slower than in previous decades

The U.S. population is projected to increase from 331 million in 2020 to 352 million in 2030 and approximately 370 million in 2050. Figure 1 places these national projections in historical context by showing both the size of the U.S. population and the percentage change for each decade from 1910 through 2050.
Population growth rates have generally declined since the 1960s, with a temporary increase between 1990 and 2000. The population is projected to continue growing by 2050, but at lower rates than historically observed. The projected growth rate declines from 7.4 percent over 2010–2020 to 6.3 percent over 2020–2030. After 2030, growth rates are projected to continue their downward trajectory, reflecting demographic trends, including low fertility, population aging, and recent migration dynamics. While no explicit assumptions are made about how these demographic components will change in the future, the projections implicitly assume that recent demographic trends will continue and will have a rippling effect on population change in the foreseeable future.

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