Today was “an important day for the American people,” said Commerce Secretary Gary Locke as he announced that he had delivered the 2010 Census results to the President under a congressional mandate – something that has happened “only 22 times before” in our nation’s history. Here are snippets of Secretary Locke’s remarks:
– achieved a 74% response rate, which matched 2000
– revamped public outreach efforts with better targeted marketing to “hard to count communities”
– 17.7 million households had lagging response rates in past; a figured reduced to 1.6 million this year
Why is Census so important?
– helps in deciding where we as a nation allocate resources
– assists with identifying places that need jobs
– serves as the backbone of serving citizens
– In 1910, there were 92 million Americans.
– By 1970, that number doubled.
– In 2000, we stood at 281,421,906 strong.
– Today….drum roll…we are 308,745,538!
Implications for apportionment in US House of Representatives:
– Shift of 12 seats affecting 18 different states
– Gaining seats: AZ, FL, GA, NV, SC, TX, UT, WA
– Losing seats: IL, IA, LA, MA, MI, MO, NJ, NY, OH, PA
– 7 states will have only 1 representative
– Average size of congressional district = ~700,000 (in 1790, that number was 34,000!)
– Growth rates declining significantly
– Center of population In 1790 was in Maryland…2000 was in southern MO…not known yet today
– Regional shift in population: Northeast has become the smallest region, South is largest
– First time ever: West more populous than Midwest.
– Fastest state population growth from 2000-2010: NV, AZ, UT, ID, TX
– Slowest population growth from 2000-2010: MI, RI, LA, OH, NY
– Highest population density states were all part of the original 13!