It feels less crowded here, no? Population growth across the US slowed to one of the lowest rates in history, with the country adding just 1.8 million people between July 2024 and July 2025, according to new data released by the US Census Bureau yesterday.

The slowdown was largely driven by the rapid fall of international migration due to President Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants and other federal policy changes. Large metro areas and counties along the US–Mexico border were hit the hardest.

Growth slowed—or reversed—throughout the US

Of the 2,066 counties that saw population growth between 2023 and 2024, 8 in 10 now face slower growth or even population decline. And of the counties that were already looking at a waning population, well, it likely got worse.

A total of 1,270 counties lost residents in the year leading up to July 2025, including those with major cities that historically attract large immigrant populations like Miami, Los Angeles, San Diego, Dallas, and New York:

• Miami-Dade County had a dramatic flip, going from the second-largest population increase in 2024 to a population drop of about 10,000 people last year.
• California’s population also fell about 0.02% last year. Some state counties, like Sacramento and Fresno, eked out small increases.

The Southeast is the place to be. More than 80% of the counties in Tennessee, South Carolina, and Kentucky saw increases in net domestic migration, aka people from other parts of the US moving in. Meanwhile, Georgia accounted for three of the top 10 counties with the highest positive net migration.

Texas was a weird one. While people are leaving Dallas and other major Lone Star cities that boomed during the pandemic, the state’s suburbs are exploding. Four of the top 10 fastest-growing counties between 2024 and 2025 were in Texas: Waller, Kaufman, Liberty, and Caldwell. Guess all your exes really do live in Texas.—MM

Iran war will push inflation above 4%, OECD projects. Inflation in the US will spike to 4.2% this year due to the conflict in the Middle East, according to a new forecast from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. That would be significantly higher than the group’s initial estimate of 2.8%, as well as the Federal Reserve’s 2.7% projection. “A prolonged period of higher energy prices will add markedly to business costs and raise consumer price inflation,” the OECD argued. Meanwhile, President Trump said yesterday that Iran allowed 10 oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a “present” to the US.—AE

Anthropic wins Round 1 of court battle with Defense Department. US District Judge Rita Lin granted Anthropic a preliminary injunction blocking the DOD from designating the AI company as a “supply chain risk.” Lin said the move appeared designed to punish the company for publicly criticizing the government’s position on using AI, which she called “classic illegal First Amendment retaliation.” She also said, “If the concern is the integrity of the operational chain of command, the Department of War could just stop using Claude.” Lin paused the order for seven days to give the government time to appeal.—HVL

President Trump says he will sign emergency order to pay TSA agents. In a post on Truth Social yesterday evening, Trump said he was going to sign an order instructing Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin to pay TSA agents. The announcement followed another day of stalled negotiations by senators over how to resume funding the Department of Homeland Security. Senate Majority Leader John Thune called the president’s plan a “short-term solution.” It was not immediately clear how the rest of the department would be funded. The DHS said that 500 TSA workers have quit due to the shutdown.—HVL

Uncle Sam wants the box transmitting your wi-fi named after an obscure anime to be made in the US. The Federal Communications Commission said it’ll stop approving new foreign internet routers this week, citing their role in cyberattacks by China-affiliated hackers.

Most routers are made in China, with router brands like TP-Link, Asus, and Netgear—which account for ~60% of the US market—manufactured abroad. But don’t rush to whip out an Ethernet cable:

• The ban only applies to new router models.
• Foreign-made models with existing government authorization that are currently in Americans’ homes and sold in stores are still allowed.

New foreign models will also be able to get an exemption from the Defense Department through a process that includes devising a stateside manufacturing plan.

Are router-makers in trouble?

Not necessarily. The China-founded TP-Link said it’s planning to set up US manufacturing and welcomed the industry-wide decision, which comes after the government reportedly considered a targeted ban on its products.

Meanwhile, Netgear’s stock jumped this week—possibly because it’s a US company and its routers are made outside of China, so investors likely expect the ban to give it a competitive edge. Shares of Asus, which has been shifting its supply chain out of China, held steady.

Are US-made routers safer? Experts say that a router’s vulnerability to attacks depends less on where it’s produced and more on its cybersecurity protocols.—SK

On the same day that Major League Baseball kicked off its 2026 season this week, DraftKings introduced a way to gamble on hundreds of thousands of pitch outcomes from old MLB games, because everyone’s main gripe with sports betting is that there’s not enough stuff to bet on.

The new in-app feature, DK Replay, looks like an arcade game:

• Users have 15 seconds to bet on a simulated pitch being a ball, a strike, or in play.
• Good luck trying to cheat—the historical at-bats are anonymized as “Pitcher” vs. “Batter,” with bronze, silver, or gold player ratings based on their stats at the time.

DK Replay is only available in Oregon right now, but DraftKings plans to expand it. That could be tricky if other states view the feature as less of a sportsbook offering and more online casino gambling, which isn’t legal in most of the US.

Endgame: DK Replay squares with DraftKings’s broader strategy to create a super app with sports betting, prediction markets, casino, lottery, and other methods of probably losing money wagering on your phone.

Meanwhile…anti-prediction-market sentiment is mounting in Congress. Several representatives across the aisle introduced bills this week that would crack down on services like Kalshi and Polymarket.—ML

Joan of Arc. King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans. History is filled with figures who stood steadfast against a more powerful adversary. Now, you can add Northern Kentucky farmowner Ida Huddleston and her daughter, Delsia Bare, to that list.

The pair rebuffed a $26 million offer from an anonymous AI company to buy part of their land for a proposed data center. According to WKRC, the company offered roughly 10x what land in the county is usually worth, but still, the farmers refused.

“Stay and hold and feed a nation,” Bare said, adding that her family raised wheat through the Great Depression and that “$26 million doesn’t mean anything.” The company has reportedly revised its plan and could still build its data center nearby.—AE

The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew’s Weekly News Quiz has been compared to the weather finally getting nice and reminding you of the joy of being alive.

It’s that satisfying. Ace the quiz.