Illinois gained nearly 68,000 people from 2023 to 2024, reversing a recent trend of population losses, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday. Much of the increase was due to an influx of migrants, a trend that played out across the country. The increase of 67,899, or 0.5%, was small and paled in comparison to the growth of 563,000 in Texas, but the numeric growth was the most in the Midwest. Illinois had 12,710,158 residents as of July 1, 2024, the census estimated, ranking sixth among states nationally, still down by about 112,000 from 2020. Nationwide, the population grew by nearly 1.0%, surpassing 340 million.