Is Massachusetts's population growing or shrinking?
Refreshed annually
It grew by 15,500 between 2024 and 2025. That’s more than the population of the city of Mashpee. Changes in population reflect birth and death rates, immigration patterns, regional shifts, and even the overall health of the economy. Massachusetts’s 0.22% annual increase was primarily driven by immigration to the state. In the decade between 2015 and 2025, Massachusetts’s population grew by 4.2%.
+15.5K
population change (2024 to 2025)
+0.22%
percent change in population (2024 to 2025)
Since 2000, Massachusetts' population increased in 22 of 25 years. The largest increase occurred between 2023 and 2024, when it gained 65,100 residents. The state's largest decline during the 21st century occurred between 2019 and 2020 when it lost 31,500 residents.
Massachusetts gained 15,500 residents between 2024 and 2025.
Annual population change, 1901–2025
What contributes to population change in Massachusetts?
A state’s population is influenced by three factors:
- Natural population change: If births outnumber deaths in a given year, natural population growth is positive. If deaths exceed births, it is negative. Between 2024 to 2025 natural population change was positive in Massachusetts, with births exceeding deaths by 8,400.
- Immigration: international migration directly into or out of a state. If more people move in than move out, population change from immigration is positive. If more people move out than move in, it’s negative. Massachusetts’ population change from immigration was positive, with about 40,200 more people coming from another country to Massachusetts than leaving.
- Domestic migration, moving between states: Massachusetts’ population change from domestic migration was negative, with about 33,300 more people leaving for another state than moving in.
Between 2024 and 2025, immigration was the primary driver of population growth in Massachusetts.
Components of population change, 2011–2025
Which counties in Massachusetts are growing? Which are shrinking?
Among 14 county equivalents, Middlesex County had the largest population growth in Massachusetts, welcoming 6,050 new residents. Suffolk County lost the most, with a loss of 1,644 residents. County-level population data is available as of 2025.
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Worcester County led Massachusetts in percent population increase between 2024 and 2025 at 0.54 percent. Berkshire County ranked last with a 0.64 percent decline.
Between 2024 and 2025, Worcester County gained 0.54% in population, the largest increase in Massachusetts.
Population change
How does population change in Massachusetts compare to other states?
Between 2015 and 2025, Massachusetts’s population has increased by 4.2%. During that same period, the US population grew by 6.2%. Massachusetts ranks 28th among states in population growth over that decade.
Massachusetts ranked 28th in population growth between 2015 and 2025.
Percent change in population
Population change between 2024 and 2025, by county in Massachusetts
| County | Population change rate | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Worcester County, MA | +0.54% |
| 2. | Bristol County, MA | +0.47% |
| 3. | Plymouth County, MA | +0.4% |
| 4. | Middlesex County, MA | +0.36% |
| 5. | Nantucket County, MA | +0.31% |
| 6. | Norfolk County, MA | +0.29% |
| 7. | Hampden County, MA | +0.2% |
| 8. | Essex County, MA | +0.06% |
| 9. | Barnstable County, MA | -0.18% |
| 10. | Suffolk County, MA | -0.21% |
Population change between 2015 and 2025, by state
| State | Population change rate | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Idaho | +22% |
| 2. | Utah | +17.9% |
| 3. | Florida | +16.5% |
| 4. | Texas | +15.8% |
| 5. | Nevada | +14.9% |
| 6. | South Carolina | +14.8% |
| 7. | Arizona | +13.7% |
| 8. | North Carolina | +12.4% |
| 9. | Delaware | +12.2% |
| 10. | Washington state | +11.4% |
How is the US population changing?
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Methodology
USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.
Page sources
USAFacts endeavors to share the most up-to-date information available. We sourced the data on this page directly from government agencies; however, the intervals at which agencies publish updated data vary.
