sfcampbell@star-telegram.com

Texas led the nation in domestic movers last year, recording a net gain of 113,528 residents, according to numbers released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Florida was No. 2 in movers from state to state, adding 91,484 residents while No. 3 North Carolina added 37,240 and No. 4 Colorado picked up 36,284.

“This decade-long pattern of domestic migration continues to be a very strong part of Texas growth; it’s not really slowing down,” said Steve Murdock, a Rice University professor and former Texas state demographer and director of the U.S. Census Bureau.

During the July 2012 to July 2013 period, outbound moving vans were lining up in New York which had a net domestic loss of 104,470 residents. Other states with big mover deficits were Illinois (-67,313), California (-49,259) and New Jersey (-45,035).

Overall, Florida had the largest net migration increase, adding 190,938, including 99,454 from immigration. Texas was second at 177,715, adding 64,187 international newcomers.

“Florida has been growing very dramatically the last few years. This year it will become larger than New York, making it the third largest state behind California and Texas,” Murdock said.

Tiny North Dakota, which surpassed Texas last year as the nation’s fastest-growing state, continued to get a boost from inbound workers, adding 16,691 residents.

“North Dakota’s growth is almost totally attributable to energy growth in the western part of the state,” said Murdock.

Another continuing trend is the domestic migration shift from the Northeast and Midwest to the South and West, Murdock said.

The Northeast region lost 208,633 domestic movers and the Midwest had a net loss of 127,900. The South added 280,755 domestic movers and the West added 55,778.

All told, the nation added 843,145 immigrants from other countries. The South added 309,637 and the Northeast added 227,173.

The Lone Star State also had the largest total population gain, adding 387,397 for a total of 26,448,193. That’s an increase of just over 1.3 million since the April 2010 Census.

Murdock doesn’t see Texas growth slowing down anytime soon.

“It has balance with good natural growth and continued domestic and international migration. I think we will continue to grow.”

Steve Campbell, 817-390-7981 Twitter: @stevecamp