Census Bureau: Oklahoma's Population Growing Faster Than U.S.

New estimates released by the Census Bureau show the Oklahoma population grew by more than 40,000 residents between April 2010 and July 2011.

The figures released Wednesday estimate Oklahoma's population to be more than 3,791,000, a gain of 1.0 percent from the official count released a year earlier.

Our neighbor to the south, Texas, gained more people than any other state between April 1, 2010, and July 1, 2011 (529,000), followed by California (438,000), Florida (256,000), Georgia (128,000) and North Carolina (121,000), according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Combined, these five states accounted for slightly more than half the nation's total population growth.

Read the U.S. Census news release.

"These are the first set of Census Bureau population estimates to be published since the official 2010 Census state population counts were released a year ago," said Census Bureau Director Robert Groves. "Our nation is constantly changing and these estimates provide us with our first measure of how much each state has grown or declined in total population since Census Day 2010."

The United States as a whole saw its population increase by 2.8 million over the 15-month period, to 311.6 million.

Its growth of 0.92 percent between April 1, 2010, and July 1, 2011, was the lowest since the mid-1940s.

"The nation's overall growth rate is now at its lowest point since before the baby boom," Groves said.

The Census Bureau report shows Kansas' population grew by more than 18,000 residents between April 2010 and July 2011.  The figures estimate the Kansas population to be more than 2,870,000, a gain of 0.6 percent.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.