Valorie Rice, Senior Business Information Specialist
April 26, 2021
The Census Bureau released state apportionment data on Monday, April 26. The 2020 Census count for Arizona was 7,151,502, an 11.9 percent increase over the 2010. This ranked Arizona among the 10 fastest-growing states for which Utah posted the largest increase in population at 18.4 percent. Even so, Arizona population grew the least amount in this last decade than it has ever done before (see Exhibit 1). The U.S. population increased 7.4 percent this decade, which was the second-slowest growth experienced in history, with the 7.3 percent change between 1930 and 1940 being the slowest.
States with the largest growth in population between 2010 and 2020 were Utah, Idaho, Texas, North Dakota, Nevada, Colorado, Washington, Florida, and Arizona, as well as the District of Columbia. Three states lost population – Illinois lost 0.1 percent, Mississippi lost 0.2 percent, and West Virginia decreased 3.2 percent placing it last among all states for population change over the decade.
The number of representatives for Arizona remains at nine. Six states had a gain in the number of representatives based on the 2020 Census. Texas gained two seats and the following states each gained one: Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina, and Oregon. States losing one representative were California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The population totals, decade change and gain/loss of congressional seats shown in Exhibit 2.
Tables and visualizations for the 2020 Census apportionment results are on the Census Bureau website.
