U.S. Population Grows 9.7% as South, West Gain Most

By John McCormick and Tim Jones -

The population of the U.S. grew 9.7 percent to 308.7 million since 2000, with southern and western states outpacing other regions in population growth, census data released shows. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Southern and western states will gain a net 11 seats in Congress after outpacing other regions in population growth over the last decade, likely setting off redistricting battles across the U.S., census data shows.

The population of the U.S. grew 9.7 percent to 308,745,538 since 2000, the slowest pace since 1940, according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau figures released today.

The gains in the South and West will come at the expense of the Northeast and Midwest, where states will shed a total of 11 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. That will take electoral votes away from states Barack Obama carried in 2008, a possible boost for Republicans in the 2012 presidential race.

“It will set off an intense game of musical chairs” among states, which will use the population shifts to reallocate many of the 435 U.S. House seats. said Andrew Smith, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. “It’s life or death for these guys.”

Republicans will have an edge in directing the redistricting process because they gained ground in last month’s elections.

The growth in the overall U.S. population, driven by an increase in Hispanic residents, was the slowest in seven decades as the worst recession since the Great Depression stunted immigration.

Texas Big Winner

Texas was the biggest winner, gaining four seats, while Ohio and New York were the biggest losers, dropping two seats each.

Besides Texas, other winners are Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington. Other losers are Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The state population counts mark the start of a new look at America from the 2010 census. The data will be used by the government to distribute more than $400 billion in annual federal funding, by businesses to identify markets, and by social scientists to examine the changing demographics.

Today’s release included only population counts. More detailed data on race, ethnicity, housing and other variables will gradually be provided, beginning in February, for all levels of geography, from neighborhoods to states.

Political Impact

Still, it’s the overall population shifts that will have the most immediate political impact.

Congressional seats are reapportioned every decade after completion of the census, with each district to have roughly the same number of people. After the 2000 Census, each lawmaker was supposed to represent about 647,000 people. That number will now grow to 710,767, the census bureau said.

The reapportionment alters electoral vote calculations because a state’s Electoral College vote is the sum of its House seats, plus its two Senate seats.

Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, downplayed the importance of the shift, telling reporters yesterday that the movements wouldn’t represent a dramatic change in presidential politics.

“I don’t think shifting some seats from one area of the country to another necessarily marks a concern that you can’t make a politically potent argument in those new places,” he said.

Hispanic Growth

Much of the population gain for states like Texas, the second-most-populous state, is the result of Hispanic growth. Hispanics account for about 36 percent of the state’s population, the latest census estimates show.

In 2008, Hispanics voted for Obama by a ratio of more than two-to-one, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research center based in Washington. The role Hispanic population growth will play in the nation’s politics won’t be fully known until the new districts are drawn.

This redistricting marks the first time in California’s history that it didn’t win an additional U.S. House seat. The nation’s largest state has 53 seats.