The District’s population continued a three-year recovery in 2024, and topped 700,000 for the first time since 2019.
D.C.’s population sank by nearly 40,000 residents in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, only the second annual decline in population in the past two decades, and continued to decline more modestly in 2021 before starting to recover.
While D.C.’s population grew by a net 15,000 people last year, the total population has now regained almost all it lost during the pandemic. Between 2023 and 2024, the total population grew by 2.2%. When compared to states, it was the highest growth rate in the U.S.
The net-population growth in the District last year was led by both international net migration in, and a slowdown in net domestic out-migration. The latter is a good sign for D.C. attracting, or re-attracting those who may have fled to the suburbs during the pandemic.
“What we’ve been seeing is the number of people moving in versus, those moving out keeps getting smaller and smaller, meaning more people are moving back into the city, primarily from the suburbs of Maryland and Virginia, said Tammy Shoham, director of research at JLL’s Washington office.
“The fact that it is almost flat means than if we continue that trend this year, it will be positive,” she said.
The pandemic-era population loss in D.C. now appears to be a short-term blip. The District’s population had been growing steadily since 2000, as evidenced by residential development over the past two decades to support it. Shoham said that growth needs to continue.
“Look at neighborhoods such as Navy Yard, The Wharf, NoMa. Those neighborhoods and that growth would not have been possible without new people coming to the city,” she said. “Now, as we’re looking at the revitalization of downtown with so much effort being put into conversion, we need the same thing. We need growth.”
Assuming domestic in-migration turns net positive this year, D.C.’s total population will hit a 25-year high in 2025.
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