Indiana’s large population growth is fueled by migration, new census data shows

INDIANAPOLIS — New data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows Indiana’s population had a big increase in 2024.

Data shows Indiana added 44,144 people last year to reach a total population of 6.9 million people. Leaders at the Indiana Business Research Center said that increase was the state’s biggest annual jump since 2008.

However, there are differences in how the population grew in both years. In 2008, 70% of Indiana’s growth was from natural increase, or the difference between births and deaths. In 2024, 70% of the state’s growth came from net international migration, accounting for 30,852 people.

According to the Census Bureau, net international migration includes those who are foreign-born, those migrating between the U.S. and Puerto Rico, U.S. citizens migrating to and from the U.S. and movement of Armed forces overseas.

Data shows Indiana had nearly 9,160 more births than deaths in 2024, the highest level of natural increase since 2020. However, this still remains lower than pre-pandemic levels.

Matthew Kinghorn is a Senior Demographer with the Indiana Business Research Center. He said Indiana’s population growth data is in line with national trends, but it is having an impact across the entire state.

“Last year, 73 out of 92 counties in Indiana added population, which is really a dramatic turnaround,” he said. “If we look at between last decade, between 2010 and 2020, more than half of our counties declined in population. And so we’re seeing a lot of communities that were declining, adding population last few years.”

Kinghorn said this is the largest number of Indiana counties to show an annual population increase since 1997.

They found that 17 of Indiana’s 23 rural counties grew last year. These are counties that are not designated as being part of either a metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area.

For the second year in a row, Boone and Hancock Counties were the state’s fastest-growing communities. The 11-county Indianapolis metro area accounted for 60% of Indiana’s net growth in 2024.

Read more about Indiana’s population growth numbers here.