Cumberland County added more than 15,000 residents between 2010 and 2020 (a 5 percent increase) and, with 334,728 people, remains North Carolina’s fifth most populous county.

The latest population numbers, released Thursday by the Census Bureau, show that Harnett County added nearly 19,000 people over the past decade. The16.5 percent increase made it the 11th-fastest growing county in the state.  With 133,568 residents, Harnett is now the 25th most populous county.

Meanwhile, two counties in the Fayetteville area saw significant population losses. Robeson County lost 17,638 residents, a 13 percent decrease and most overall in the state. Bladen County lost 5,584 residents, a nearly 16 percent drop.

North Carolina’s overall population grew from 9,535,483 to 10,439,483 over the decade, an increase of 903,905 or 9.5 percent. The growth makes it one of six states that will gain a U.S. House seat.

The latest numbers also show that Wake is now the state’s most populous county. The home of the state capital, Raleigh, Wake has grown by 228,417 in the past 10 years to 1,129,410, eclipsing Mecklenburg’s 1,115,482.

Wake’s neighbor, Johnston, was the fastest growing county in the state, Wake was fourth (25 percent) and Durham was 5th (21 percent). That means the Research Triangle added nearly 350,000 residents since 2010, the last census. Over that same period, 51 North Carolina counties lost population and 49 grew.

Although Wake is now on top, the top the five largest counties in 2020 were also the five largest in 2010: Wake, 1,129,410; Mecklenburg, 1,115,482; Guilford, 541,299; Forsyth, 382,590; and Cumberland, 334,728.

Wake (25 percent), Mecklenburg (21 percent) and Guilford (11 percent) grew faster than the state (9.5 percent) over the decade while Forsyth (9 percent) and Cumberland (5 percent) grew more slowly.

Tyrrell County remains the least populous county in North Carolina and five smallest counties are the same as in 2010: Tyrrell, 3,245; Hyde, 4,589; Graham, 8,030; Jones, 9,172; and  Camden, 10,355.

After a decade of population estimates suggesting that Brunswick was the fastest-growing county, Johnston took a slight edge in the end. The five fastest-growing counties in North Carolina from 2010-2020 were: Johnston, 27.9 percent; Brunswick, 27.2 percent; Cabarrus, 26.8 percent; Wake, 25.4 percent; Durham, 21.4 percent.

The counties with the largest numeric declines were: Robeson, -17,638; Duplin, -9,790; Edgecombe, -7,652; Columbus, -7,475; and Halifax, -6,069

The counties with the largest percentage losses were: Tyrrell, -26.4 percent; Hyde, -21.0 percent; Northampton, -20.9 percent; Anson, -18.2 percent; and Washington, -16.8 percent.

The expanded data released Thursday showed an increase in the population of U.S. metro areas, an increasingly diverse nation and, for the first time in the nation’s history, a decline in the white population.

“These changes reveal that the US population is much more multiracial, and more racially and ethnically diverse, than what we measured in the past,” said Nicholas Jones, the director of race, ethnicity, research and outreach for the Census Bureau's Population Division.

The population of the nation’s metro areas grew by 9 percent from 2010 to 2020, resulting in 86 percent of the population living in U.S. metro areas in 2020, compared to 85 percent in 2010.

At 57.8 percent, the non-Hispanic white population remains the largest race or ethnic group, but the percentage declined by 8.6 percent since 2020, making it the lowest share on record.

“Many counties within metro areas saw growth, especially those in the south and west. However, as we’ve been seeing in our annual population estimates, our nation is growing slower than it used to,” said Marc Perry, a senior demographer at the Census Bureau. “This decline is evident at the local level where around 52 percent of the counties in the United States saw their 2020 Census populations decrease from their 2010 Census populations.”

County and metro area highlights

• The largest county in the United States in 2020 remains Los Angeles County with over 10 million people.
• The largest city (incorporated place) in the United States in 2020 remains New York with 8.8 million people.
• 312 of the 384 U.S. metro areas gained population between 2010 and 2020.
• The fastest-growing U.S. metro area between the 2010 Census and 2020 Census was The Villages, FL, which grew 39 percent from about 93,000 people to about 130,000 people.
• 72 U.S. metro areas lost population from the 2010 Census to the 2020 Census. The U.S. metro areas with the largest percentage declines were Pine Bluff, AR, and Danville, IL, at -12.5 percent and -9.1 percent, respectively.

Race and ethnicity highlights

• The White population remained the largest race or ethnicity group in the United States, with 204.3 million people identifying as White alone. Overall, 235.4 million people reported White alone or in combination with another group. However, the White alone population decreased by 8.6 percent since 2010.
• 
  The Two or More Races population (also referred to as the Multiracial population) has changed considerably since 2010. The Multiracial population was measured at 9 million people in 2010 and is now 33.8 million people in 2020, a 276 percent increase.
• The “Some Other Race” alone or in combination group (49.9 million) increased 129 percent, surpassing the Black or African American population (46.9 million) as the second-largest race alone or in combination group.
• The next largest racial populations were the Asian alone or in combination group (24 million), the American Indian and Alaska Native alone or in combination group (9.7 million), and the Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone or in combination group (1.6 million).
• The Hispanic or Latino population, which includes people of any race, was 62.1 million in 2020. The Hispanic or Latino population grew 23 percent, while the population that was not of Hispanic or Latino origin grew 4.3 percent since 2010.

The Adult and Under-Age-18 Populations

The 2020 Census showed that the adult (age 18 and older) population group grew 10.1 percent to 258.3 million people over the decade.

“More than three-quarters, 77.9 percent, of the U.S. population were age 18 and over,” said Andrew Roberts, chief of the Sex and Age Statistics Branch in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. “The adult population grew faster than the nation as a whole. By comparison, the population under age 18 was 73.1 million in 2020, a decline of 1.4 percent from the 2010 Census.”

Changes to the adult and under-age-18 populations

The District of Columbia had the largest population age 18 and over as a percentage of population at 83.4 percent. Utah had the largest population under age 18 as a percentage of population at 29.0 percent.

Utah also had the fastest-growing adult population at 22.8 percent growth.

North Dakota had the fastest-growing population under age 18 at 22.1 percent growth.

Additional age breakdowns will be available in future 2020 Census data releases scheduled for 2022.

2020 Census Housing Units

The 2020 Census showed that on April 1, 2020, there were 140,498,736 housing units in the United States, up 6.7 percent from the 2010 Census.

Texas had the largest numeric growth in housing units with 1,611,888.

The county with the largest percent increase in housing was McKenzie County, North Dakota, with a 147.9 percent increase.

West Virginia and Puerto Rico were the only two states or state equivalents that lost housing units.

There were 126,817,580 occupied housing units and 13,681,156 vacant units in the United States.

Fayetteville area

Cumberland

2010: 319,431

2020: 334,728

Change: +15,297

Rate: +5 percent

Harnett

2010: 114678

2020: 133568

Change: 18890

Rate: 16.5 percent

Robeson

2010: 134168

2020: 116530

Change: -17638

Rate: -13 percent

Moore

2010: 88247

2020: 99727

Change: 11480

Rate: 13 percent

Hoke

2010: 46952

2020: 52082

Change: 5130

Rate: 11 percent

Bladen

35190

2020: 29606

Change: -5584

Rate: -16 percent