Default observations and releases
The default annual total is the Census Population Estimates Program resident population estimate for the geography and reference date. The initial release, pep-2025-r1, uses Vintage 2025 files for nation/state totals, county totals and subcounty totals. Each annual series contains July 1 observations from 2020 to 2025 from that one vintage. No year is selected from a different release merely to make a longer chart.
National and state/DC decennial counts come from the Census Bureau's historical population-change table, published April 26, 2021, covering 1910–2020. These historical observations use their source's geographic definitions. They are not spatially standardized to 2025 boundaries and are not joined into the annual estimate line.
Geographies and population universe
National coverage includes the 50 states and the District of Columbia, excluding Puerto Rico and other territories. DC is a federal district. County observations include county equivalents. City profiles use whole incorporated-place records at SUMLEV 162 with functional status A or B, plus separately labeled source balance records. County/place parts, minor civil divisions and consolidated-city aggregates are not treated as additional whole cities. Consolidated-government balance profiles are labeled and excluded from ordinary-place rankings.
The PEP boundary vintage is January 1, 2025. Land areas are joined to 2025 Gazetteer records using official geographic codes. The square-meter land denominator is converted using 2,589,988.110336 square meters per square mile, then retained unrounded. A missing join suppresses density and the locator. A city-to-county relationship is derived from published SUMLEV 157 records and can identify several counties.
Derived calculations
- Absolute change = ending population − starting population.
- Percentage change = 100 × (ending / starting − 1).
- Annualized growth = 100 × ((ending / starting)1 / elapsed years − 1).
- Density = population / compatible land area in square miles.
- Population share = 100 × subgroup / matching total.
- Percentage-point change = ending percentage − starting percentage.
Percent growth is suppressed for zero or invalid starting totals. Annualized growth requires positive totals and a positive elapsed interval. Indexed values require a positive starting observation. Calculations use unrounded values; displays show integer people, two-decimal percentages, and one-decimal density. July-to-July intervals use their explicit year difference.
Components and validation
Natural change equals births minus deaths. For published national, state and county components, natural change + net domestic migration + net international migration + residual reconciles to the annual population change. Births and deaths are not added again after natural change. No city-level components are allocated from a county population share. Source-published component rates are not reconstructed using end-year population.
Ingestion checks unique IDs and routes, six nonnegative annual observations, national controls from all states plus DC, every state control from its exhaustive county set, and component reconciliation. The publication preserves raw-file SHA-256 hashes. Profile values, tables, maps, comparisons and exports share this snapshot. PEP does not supply ACS-style survey margins for these totals; none are fabricated.
Sources and updates
Primary documentation: PEP methods, PEP revisions FAQ, and historical census table. Check the release schedule monthly; build a new reviewed snapshot when a complete vintage is approved. Keep archived exports unchanged and record corrections separately from upstream revisions.