U.S. Population Growth Rate Plummets In 2020

U.S. Census Bureau estimates of U.S. population growth rates. Everything beyond the year 2020 is a projection only. 

Roughly speaking, the U.S. population growth rate dropped by a third in 2020 to an annual rate of about 0.5%.

In addition to excess deaths over normal and decreased births (an impact of about 300,000 people each for the year), legal immigration declined at unprecedented rates, refugee admissions have never been lower, and immigration enforcement activity has been low because few people have tried to enter the country illegally since April when the COVID-19 pandemic developed. Immigration enforcement within the U.S. has been at record lows during the Trump Administration. Immigrants as a share of the total population in the U.S. was flat in 2019 and may have declined in 2020.