By KRWG News
Texas – Texas is the nation's fastest-growing state by the numbers with a population of about 24.8 million.
New Census Bureau figures show California remains the most populous state, with 37 million, followed by Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois.
Texas gained more people than any other state between July 1, 2008, and July 1, 2009, adding about 478,000. The Texas increase for the period is comparable to the population of Omaha, Neb.
Census figures show the U.S. population, as of Thursday, topped 308 million.
Director Robert Groves says this week's update is the final set of state population estimates that will be published before the official 2010 count.
On the Net:
www.census.gov
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.