LINCOLN- On Tuesday, the Census Bureau estimated that Nebraska's population reached 1,978,379 as of July of this year, up 10,319 people from the same estimate last year, indicating that Nebraska's population growth is beginning to rebound to healthy levels after two years of slowed, pandemic-affected growth.

The increase this year was more than double the combined growth in 2021 and 2022, when the state was estimated to have added 980 and 3,807 respectively. Those numbers were believed to have been further held down by an increase in pandemic-related deaths, as well as much decreased immigration.

"It's kind of a return to more normal growth," said David Drozd, a demographer with Community Health Development Partners in Omaha, "To be back above the 10,000-per-year level indicates we are coming out of the more COVID-related impacts to more typical growth years." Nebraska's growth this year also exceeded the U.S. growth rate, and is ranked 24th among all states.

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