Montana population growth slows

This story is excerpted from the MT Lowdown, a weekly newsletter digest containing original reporting and analysis published every Friday. After years of new arrivals swelling Montana’s population and straining its housing supply, new data released Dec. 19 by the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that the volume of net migration into the state has declined. As of July 1, 2023, the federal demographics agency estimates Montana had 1,132,800 residents. That’s about 9,900 more than a year prior, or a 0.9% increase. While that’s a lot of new Montanans — roughly as many people as the po