A fresh estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that Pacific County saw muted population change last year, continuing a recent trend after the county had posted some of the largest gains in the state from the mid 2010s through the early 2020s.

The federal agency estimated that the county’s population grew from 24,173 in 2023 to 24,245 as of July 2024, an increase of just 0.3%. That change ranks 34th out of Washington’s 39 counties, with Pacific trailing each of neighboring Grays Harbor, Wahkiakum and Lewis counties.

Since the beginning of the decade, when the decennial census pegged the population at 23,363 as of April 2020, Pacific County’s population has grown by 3.8% — ranking 19th out of Washington’s 39 counties, firmly in the middle of the pack.

The last few years of slower growth comes after the county had experienced some of the sharpest gains in the state over the past decade. In fact, over the ten-year period from 2013-22, census bureau estimates showed Pacific County had the highest percentage increase in the state.

The census bureau is responsible for producing data that determines where hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding is allocated to each year. 

Going just on natural change, Pacific County’s population would have shrunk by 961 people since the 2020 Census, with the 683 births in the county being outpaced by 1,644 deaths.

Migration has been the driving force behind the county’s gains over that span, according to the census bureau. Since 2020, 1,678 more people have moved into Pacific County from another county in the U.S. than have moved to another county, and 205 more have moved into the county from another country than have departed the county to live abroad.

The federal agency and the Washington State Office of Financial Management have differed somewhat on their projections for Pacific County in recent years. OFM estimated last summer that the county population stood at 23,950 as of April 2024, which was about 300 less than the census bureau’s findings.

Other notes

Overall, Washington’s population grew by 1.3% from 2023 to 2024, or just over 100,000 people, easily its biggest single-year gain since the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. The rise was fueled by solid gains in King County, which saw its population increase by 1.9%, or over 43,000 people.

The census bureau estimates that the state’s population sits just shy of eight million souls, at 7,958,180 people, which should be surpassed next year if trends continue. Washington has the 13th highest population in the country, behind Virginia’s roughly 8.8 million people and ahead of Arizona’s 7.6 million.

Across the mouth of the Columbia River, Clatsop County saw its population shrink slightly from 2023 to 2024, by 0.1% — or 46 people. Since the decennial census, the county’s population has shrunk by 0.1%, while Oregon’s population has grown by 0.8%. At nearly 4.3 million people, Oregon’s population ranks 27th in the country.