Americans number nearly 300 million

WASHINGTON — The U.S. population grew by 2.8 million in the past year and is edging toward 300 million, a threshold that should be reached within four years.

The South and West added the most people in the year that ended July 1, and Nevada was the fastest-growing state for the 17th consecutive year, according to Census Bureau estimates Thursday.

The overall population grew 1 percent, to nearly 291 million people. Immigration and a high birth rate among Hispanics — now the nation’s largest minority group — helped fuel the increase.

Washington state’s population increased by 64,385, or 1.1 percent, the Census Bureau estimated.

The 1920 census was the first to record 100 million Americans, a figure that took nearly 150 years for the country to attain. The 200-million mark was surpassed 50 years later.

At the current rate, the nation will be home to 300 million people within four years, said John Haaga, director of domestic programs at the Population Reference Bureau, a nonprofit demographic research group.

Americans continue flocking to the South and West, with those regions accounting for about three-quarters of the growth in the last year. Nevada was the fastest-growing state, adding nearly 74,000 people, or 3.4 percent, to its population.

William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution, said climate and affordability are the main reasons people continue moving to Nevada.

"It’s a substantially lower cost of housing," Frey said. "It also continues to attract a broad spectrum of migrants from other parts of the country as a resort town, and increasingly as a retirement center. Obviously, the warm weather and the recreation that’s there is some draw. In a way, it’s become almost like a suburb of Los Angeles."

Following Nevada on the list of the fastest-growing states were Arizona, Florida, Texas and Idaho. Three new states moved into the top 10 this year: California, Delaware and Hawaii. They bumped Alaska, Oregon and Colorado.

Every state except North Dakota grew in the last year. North Dakota lost an estimated 74 people and now has a population of just under 634,000.