Wilmington Metro Population Sees Growth
The Wilmington metro area population grew by more than 12,000 between July 2024 and July 2025, an increase of 2.6%, according to data released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Among all U.S. metro areas with a population of 20,000 or more, the Wilmington metropolitan statistical area, which includes New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties, ranked No. 7 in population growth based on percentage during the one-year period, according to the Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 population estimates released Thursday. In comparison, the Raleigh-Cary metro area ranked No. 10 nationwide with a growth rate of 2.4%, a slowdown from the previous year.
According to a Census Bureau release, 310 of the country's 387 metro areas experienced slower growth between 2024 and 2025 than in the prior year, and the Wilmington area was no exception.
The growth rate in the Wilmington metro area has declined slightly each year since peaking at 3.7% between 2021 and 2022. The area saw a 3% growth rate between 2022 and 2023 and 2.7% population growth from 2023 to 2024.
The data also shows that Brunswick County, which has experienced rapid population growth in recent years, added just over 7,800 residents between 2024 and 2025, an increase of 4.7%. The county ranked No. 6 nationwide in growth percentage for counties with more than 20,000 residents.
Although down from peak growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, growth across counties in the Cape Fear region remained steady from 2024 to 2025.
Brunswick County’s 4.7% growth, for example, matched its growth between 2023 and 2024 and is slightly higher than the 4.5% population increase the county saw between 2022 and 2023, according to census data. The county saw its peak growth rate between 2021 and 2022, with a population growth rate of 5.4%.
Meanwhile, New Hanover County's growth rate has cooled in recent years. Data shows that population growth spiked between 2021 and 2022, reaching just over 2.5%. That's dropped each year to 1.6% between 2022 and 2023, 1.4% between 2023 and 2024 and 1.1% population growth last year.
In Pender County, the growth rate ticked up slightly last year from 2.7% between 2023 and 2024 to 2.8% last year. Like New Hanover and Brunswick, Pender County saw its highest population growth rate between 2021 and 2022, at 4.2%. That rate dropped to 4.1% between 2022 and 2023.
Nationwide, population growth slowed in a majority of the country's 3,143 counties and the District of Columbia between 2024 and 2025, according to the Census Bureau release. Among the 2,066 counties that grew between 2023 and 2024, nearly 8 in 10 saw their growth slow or reverse direction in 2025.
Metro areas with the steepest drops in growth were located along the U.S.-Mexico border, and the Census Bureau release attributes some of the shifts in population growth rates to lower net international migration, which declined nationwide.
Domestic migration has largely fueled growth in the Cape Fear region. Since 2020, the population of Brunswick County has increased by nearly 42,000 through domestic migration, compared to increases of nearly 18,000 in New Hanover County and roughly 11,500 in Pender County.
In comparison, Brunswick County saw a just over 520-person increase via international migration, while New Hanover saw an increase of just over 3,000 and Pender gained 530 additional residents through international migration.
The data shows that the Southeast is a hot spot for growth in the U.S. The fastest-growing counties nationwide are in states located along the Southeastern coast, including North and South Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Georgia.
Census data also showed that among counties with populations of 20,000 or more, nine of the top 10 fastest-growing counties were in the South, as were 45 out of the top 50 fastest-growing counties.
