Florida Bumps Illinois as Fifth Populous State

Florida, continuing a Sun Belt population boom, became the fifth most populous state in the country in 1986, the Census Bureau said Tuesday.

The bureau said its latest state population estimates showed that California held onto the No. 1 spot, with a 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.

The Big Gainers

Among the big gainers of this decade have been Alaska, with a 33% population increase; Arizona, up 22%; Nevada, with a 20% gain matching Florida’s; Texas, up 17%; California, Utah and New Mexico, with 14% increases; Colorado, up 13%, and Georgia, up 12%.

Since the 1980 census, California has added the most people, 3.3 million, followed by an increase of 2.5 million in Texas and 1.9 million in Florida.

After sustaining population declines in the 1970s, every state in the Northeast grew between 1980 and 1986, led by a 12% rise in New Hampshire.