(NEWSnet/AP) – Counties in the U.S. South are seeing the fastest population growth, although some Northeast and Midwest counties also saw gains in the past year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Vintage 2023 estimates released Thursday.

Overall, about 60% of U.S. counties gained population from 2022 to 2023.

“Domestic migration patterns are changing, and the impact on counties is especially evident,” said Lauren Bowers, chief of the Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Branch. “Areas which experienced high levels of domestic out-migration during the pandemic, such as in the Midwest and Northeast, are now seeing more counties with population growth.”

Polk County, Florida, was the county more people moved to last year than any other county in the U.S., according to the estimates. Almost all the growth in Polk County — 88% — consisted of people moving from another part of the U.S. rather than from abroad, according to the 2023 population estimates.

In the most popular destinations for immigrants — counties in South Florida and counties that are home to Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Jose — international migration grew by double digits year-over-year.

Among metro areas, which combine counties having social and economic connections, the Dallas metro area had the biggest growth last year — more than 152,000 residents — and surpassed 8 million residents for the first time. That growth was followed by metro Houston, with almost an additional 140,000 residents, and metro Atlanta, with an increase of more than 68,000 people.

In Miami-Dade County, there were almost 54,500 new residents from outside the U.S., the highest in the nation last year and an almost 40% increase over the previous year. The international migration offset the departure of more than 47,000 residents who left Miami-Dade County for other U.S. counties.

Metro Atlanta jumped two spots from last year to become the sixth most populous metro area, with 6.3 million residents. It is surpassed only by metro New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas and Houston.

That being said, officials New York City plan to challenge the 2023 population estimates with the Census Bureau. They think as many as 50,000 people were overlooked in the city’s emergency shelters.

“We wanted to flag it,” said Casey Berkovitz, press secretary for New York’s Department of City Planning. “Once you account for this underestimate ... the year marked a return to prepandemic levels.”

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