Following an exodus of residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, large metropolitan areas are seeing populations rise again. According to real estate marketing platform Realtor.com, the number of people living in a major U.S. metro area grew by 1.1%, or by about 3.2 million people, from 2023 to 2024. Comparatively, the population in major metro areas grew by 2.6 million people, or about 0.9%, from 2022 to 2023.
While many of the nation’s largest cities saw population growth, the New York City metro recorded the most growth from 2023 to 2024. There, the population increased by more than 213,000 people. The Houston and Dallas areas saw similar growth, reporting population increases of 198,171 and 177,922, respectively.
"Economic opportunities attract big-city movers, especially as many companies return to the office," says Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com.
"During the pandemic, companies moved toward remote-first or remote-only working models, which allowed many big-city dwellers to move out to more affordable locales. However, workers have increasingly returned to the office, driving many to move back to the city.” Read more
