Alaska’s population grew slightly, by 2,274 people, between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, marking the first time the population has climbed above 740,000 since 2018, according to a Tuesday press release from the State Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

That increase is much larger than the increases reported in recent years, where the department said the state added only 304 people between 2022 and 2023 and 451 between 2021 and 2022.

Still, this week’s release says that the state is still seeing net outmigration, with more people moving out of the state than moving in now for 12 straight years. Between 2023 and 2024, 1,163 more people left Alaska than came to the state, but the department says the population still increased because births have outpaced deaths.

The working population — those aged 18 to 64 — declined statewide by 0.4%, while the population aged 65 or older grew 4%, the release says. Those trends, of older populations growing while working populations decline, match those reported in the last two years.

In the January edition of “Alaska Economic Trends Magazine,” published by the department, a statewide forecast for jobs describes an ongoing worker shortage being exacerbated by Alaska’s aging population and migration losses of working aged people. That decline of working-age people is expected to continue through 2030, per that report, before a “tick up slightly,” then more decline starting in 2040.

The Kenai Peninsula added 347 people last year, according to data from the department, making it among only nine of the 30 boroughs and census areas in Alaska to not see a population loss. This year’s increase in local population is smaller than a reported gain of nearly 1,000 last year.

For more information about population or job data, visit labor.alaska.gov.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.