According to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Massachusetts decreased by almost 8,000 people between July 2021 and July 2022, a drop of about 0.1%. However, the state's population is still ahead of its revised 2020 Census level. The new data puts numbers to some of the migration concerns that have fueled Gov. Maura Healey's push for changes to the state's short-term capital gains and estate taxes, and color the challenges that businesses of all types have been having as they try to hire people in Massachusetts. The population change is driven by migration within the U.S. as people move around inside the country and from international trends as people arrive from abroad. Red America is growing because blue America is shrinking, and this is seen in the population growth in rural areas, which came despite the difference between births and deaths. Lower rates of vaccination in red counties may have contributed to this pattern. People moved to red counties, and urban counties lost residents from migration.