What’s Slowing Mountain State’s Population Loss? Immigration

The bad news? West Virginia lost more than 500 residents from 2023 to 2024, according to new data from the U.S. Census. It’s one of only three states to lose population – Vermont and Mississippi are the others – and of those, it lost the most.

The good news? The state’s population loss is smaller than it has been, says Brad Humphries, a professor of economics at West Virginia University’s John Chambers School of Business and Economics.

“Things are improving,” he said. “We’re not hemorrhaging residents like we were a couple of years ago.”

A large part of the reason: More people are moving to West Virginia, notably, from other countries. International migration added more than 2,800 residents. Another 500, and the state would have broken even.

The total net migration to the state, including domestic and international, was about 7,300. The census data does not break down countries, or states, of origin.

“That is certainly one of the important factors that’s offsetting the higher death rate and lower birth rate,” Humphreys said.

West Virginia had the highest population loss because of deaths than any state but Pennsylvania. The number of deaths, 7,800, was actually higher than Florida’s, now a state of 23 million people.

“Florida is such a much larger state than we are, and to have the same number of deaths just tells you how unhealthy the population in West Virginia is,” Humphreys said.

Humphreys noted that West Virginia’s high death rate and declining birth rate aren’t likely to change. Therefore, any chance that the state will reverse its overall population decline depends on migration from other states and other countries.

“It’s going to be highly dependent on that migration, because the declining birth rate and pretty high death rate,” he said. “Those are long-term trends that don’t change easily.”

Texas and Florida led the country’s population gains in 2024, partly due to their location, Humphreys says. That could put states like West Virginia at a disadvantage.

“Anywhere in the Sun Belt.” he said, “That’s a big overall migration trend is people want to live where it’s warm.”

West Virginia’s total population remains over 1.7 million, which ranks 39th out of 50.