The U.S. Census Bureau on Wednesday released new estimates showing Florida is the third most-populous state behind California and Texas. Florida also had the fifth-highest growth rate from July 2017 to July 2018, with all the fastest-growing states in the southern and western parts of the country. Florida had about 21.3 million residents as of July 1^st. Puerto Rico and nine states had population declines during the period. California has an estimated population of 39.5 million people and Texas, has 28.7 million.