Immigration drops in St. Louis, slowing region's population growth, new Census data show

By Post Dispatch

St. Louis, like much of the country, is feeling the effects of a plunge in international arrivals amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, slowing recent gains in regional population growth and portending population loss in coming years.

The St. Louis region still managed to grow last year, adding a little more than 3,000 residents to bring its estimated population to 2,814,421, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released this week. That was less than half of the 6,700 people who came to the region in 2024, a drop attributed to roughly 5,600 fewer immigrants who moved to St. Louis than the previous year, when recent immigration to St. Louis peaked at more than 12,000 people.

The figures paint a darkening demographic picture for St. Louis, where an aging population means more people are dying than being born and more residents move out than come here from elsewhere in the country. Read more here