Florida Now Ranks as Nation’s Fifth State in Population
Florida, continuing a Sun Belt population boom, became the fifth most populous state in the country in 1986, marking the only change in ranking among the 10 largest states, the Census Bureau said today.
The bureau said its latest state population estimates showed that California held onto the No. 1 spot, with a total population of 26.98 million, followed by New York, Texas and Pennsylvania. The top four rankings were unchanged from 1985.
But Florida moved ahead of Illinois as the fifth largest state, continuing a growth boom in which Florida’s population has jumped 20% since 1980, the fourth largest percentage gain of all the states.
The new Census Bureau population estimates showed that the South and the West continue to have most of the nation’s population growth, increasing by 13.2 million in this decade. This compares to a population rise of 1.3 million in all the rest of the nation.
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