The number of people living in the city of El Paso fell by 2,209 between 2024 and 2025, the largest decline in Texas and seventh-largest in the United States, according to estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The annual population decline is the largest ever recorded in census estimates for the city of El Paso, surpassing a drop of 1,700 people between 2017 and 2018, records show. The city’s population has grown by a little over 4,000 since the 2020 census, or 0.6%, which makes it El Paso’s slowest growth period since a population decline during the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Several trends such as rapidly declining birth rates, slowing immigration from Mexico and migration of young adults out of El Paso in search of better economic opportunities have slowed the city’s population growth over the past 15 years or longer. Now, national economic and political developments may also be playing a role, said Tom Fullerton, an economics professor at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Several trends such as rapidly declining birth rates, slowing immigration from Mexico and migration of young adults out of El Paso in search of better economic opportunities have slowed the city’s population growth over the past 15 years or longer. Now, national economic and political developments may also be playing a role, said Tom Fullerton, an economics professor at the University of Texas at El Paso.
“The immigration crackdown in the United States has severely reduced population growth in El Paso, a place where international migrants frequently prefer to relocate,” Fullerton said.
“The anti-trade movements from both the right and left wings of the political spectrum have also damaged business and job opportunities in El Paso during the past decade. A variety of investments on both sides of the border have been sidelined due to business climate uncertainty, tariff rate increases, and administrative actions that thwart international commerce and manufacturing. Any time trade suffers, it tends to slow economic expansion and demographic growth within the Sun City and throughout the Borderplex,” he said.
The loss of 2,209 people – or about 0.3% of the city of El Paso’s 2024 population – is equivalent to losing the entire student body at El Dorado or Montwood high schools.
Mayor Renard Johnson said “population numbers are important because they tell us whether people feel they have opportunity and a strong quality of life in a city.”
“At the same time, there are also clear signs El Paso is building economic momentum. The region recently added thousands of jobs, we are seeing record sales tax revenues, and international trade and investment continue to grow across our region,” he said.
Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that El Paso County added about 1,500 jobs between March 2025 and March 2026, the most recent data available, an annual growth rate of 0.4%. That’s more than twice the national job growth rate in that period, but about half the job growth rate of Texas.
The average private sector weekly wage in El Paso County was $906 in the third quarter of 2025, the most recent data available from the BLS. That’s 38% below the similar number for Texas and the nation.
Johnson said El Paso has work to do to make El Paso more attractive to people living here, or considering a move to the city.
“We still need more competitive wages, more career opportunities for young professionals, and continued investment in quality of life,” he said. “But the goal is making sure the projects and investments happening today translate into long-term opportunity so more people choose to stay, work, and build their future in El Paso.”
The new numbers from the Census Bureau are estimates as of July 1 each year, based on data such as birth and death records, information from tax returns and other administrative records, and surveys. El Paso remains the nation’s 23rd largest city by population, and the sixth-largest in Texas.
Only six cities in the United States lost more people than El Paso between 2024 and 2025, including Albuquerque and Tucson, according to the census estimates. The 10 cities with the largest population declines generally have large immigrant populations, so the losses could be driven in part by the first five months of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.
The Census Bureau said mid-sized cities grew faster than small towns and large cities between 2024 and 2025.
“Big-city growth slowed significantly between 2024 and 2025, with some major hubs even seeing small declines,” said Matt Erickson, a statistician in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. “In contrast, midsized cities found a ‘Goldilocks zone’ where domestic and international migration, paired with new housing, helped prevent the sluggish growth seen in small towns and larger metropolitan centers.”
Some of the larger cities appeared to shed population to smaller towns and cities nearby, the Census Bureau said.
Smaller towns adjacent to El Paso in El Paso and Doña Ana counties added about 900 people in 2025, and nearby Las Cruces added 644 people, according to the estimates.
In March, county-level population estimates from the Census Bureau showed El Paso County losing a little more than 2,000 people between 2024 and 2025. The estimates suggest areas outside the city limits of El Paso added a net of about 200 people over that time.
In Texas, El Paso’s population decline was the highest of any city. The other largest declines were concentrated in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston metro areas, according to the estimates.
Fort Worth had the largest population growth in Texas, adding more than 19,000 residents. San Antonio was second with 14,000 more residents.
Celina, a small city in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, added more than 12,000 residents last year, a 25% growth rate. The five cities of more than 20,000 people with the largest population percentage increases were all in Texas, including four in the DFW area.
Charlotte, North Carolina, had the largest population growth of any U.S. city, adding almost 21,000 people.
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