Despite doomsday titles describing Arizona as the “hot spot of the world”From the COVID-19 pandemic, more Americans moved to the state than almost any other place in the country last year.

On the heels of a disappointing display in the official U.S. census, the copper state recorded a net domestic migration gain of 93,026 people to its population in the annual population estimate. The additional people, minus those who moved or died, estimated the state’s population at 7,276,316 as of July 1 of this year. From July 1, 2020 until July this year, the state’s total digital change was 98,330.

The census estimates that Arizona’s population grew 1.4%, more than any other state with at least 4 million people and just behind Utah, Idaho and Montana.

Neighboring California continues to see people leaving the state. At 39,237,836, California lost 261,902 people on the net, just behind New York which lost 319,020 people.

Some have blame The declining population of California, not only because of the number of people leaving, but also the growing number of workers who no longer need to relocate to places like Silicon Valley if they can work remotely.

Nationally, the United States continued to slow total population growth compared to previous decades. The COVID-19 pandemic has also taken its toll.

“Population growth has been slowing for years due to falling birth rates and declining net international migration, while death rates are rising due to the country’s aging population,” said Kristie Wilder , demographer in the Population Division of the Census Bureau. “Now, with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, this combination has resulted in a historically slow pace of growth. “

The annual census population estimate uses the decennial census as a benchmark and changes this number up or down using current data on births, deaths and migration to calculate the change in the population of year to year starting July 1. This creates a time series of estimates. population, demographic components of change and housing units.