The 2025 state population data is out, and like most of Washington, Kitsap cities and towns are growing steadily — but it’s not because of a baby boom.

The state Office of Financial Management released its population trend data for cities, towns and counties in Washington as of November 2025, and the results show that net migration — the total number of people added to an area who moved from a different area — was far and away the largest driver of population growth statewide.

Kitsap County was no exception; it was one of the fastest-growing regions in Western Washington in 2025, matching similarly-sized Skagit County with a growth rate of .98%, but Kitsap only added about 989 residents by birth from 2020 to 2025. The other 12,300 new people in Kitsap came from somewhere else.

“Migration continues to be the primary driver behind population growth […] Net migration accounted for 78% of the state’s population growth, with natural change (births minus deaths) responsible for the other 22%,” report authors wrote. “To better understand the patterns of where migrants are coming from, we used surrendered driver license data to observe migration flows between Washington and other states.”

The vast majority of new residents in Washington came from other U.S. states — a whopping 77%, with the largest share of people moving from California, Idaho, Oregon, and Texas. People from other countries comprised about 23% of new Washingtonians, a “dramatic” increase over the past three years, report authors said.

County-level data for natural growth and net migration were not provided in the report, but Kitsap has shown a relatively steady rate of growth since 2020, hovering around approximately 2,300 new people per year. Between April 2024 and April 2025, Kitsap added 2,800 people, outpacing some counties around the state with larger overall populations: Pierce, Snohomish and Yakima County all saw growth rates below 80%.

Within the last 12 months in Kitsap, growth occurred roughly equally both inside and outside city limits, but determining whether the rate of new home construction is keeping up with demand is not cut-and-dried.

In unincorporated Kitsap, about 2,941 new homes have been built since 2020, but the area has added roughly 1,000 people every year in the same timeframe, including 1,040 between 2024 and 2025. It’s a similar story in incorporated Kitsap: since 2020, there have been 4,459 new homes built in Kitsap cities, including single-family and multifamily units, but together, the cities have grown by almost 7,900 people.

Port Orchard added the most new residents and new homes over the past five years, with 3,673 newcomers and 1,856 new homes. Bainbridge Island accounted for the least share of incorporated Kitsap’s population growth, adding just 705 people since 2020 and about 433 new homes. Bremerton took second place, with 2,385 new people and 1,543 new homes, and Poulsbo came in third with 1,135 new people and 627 new homes.

There’s still half a decade left for housing development to catch up, report authors noted.

“Housing, another indicator of population change, showed growth in 2025. Washington added 47,900 housing units, increasing the housing stock by 1.4% when compared to 2024,” authors wrote in the report. “This decade started with more rapid annual housing unit growth than the previous decade, which averaged 1.1%, adding about 31,500 housing units on average for that period.”