As a result of the 2020 U.S. Census data, North Carolina is one of six states to gain seats in the reapportionment of the U.S. House of Representatives. Other states gaining seats include Texas, Florida, Colorado, Oregon, and Montana, while seven states lost seats.

The U.S. Census Bureau stated the population of North Carolina is 10,453,948 with an increase of 903,905 people since the 2010 census. This means North Carolina will pick up one additional seat within the U.S. House of Representatives.

North Carolina will now have 14 seats within the House. This means the current congressional maps will be redrawn – with the data to do so being released by September 30, 2021.

Rebecca Tippett is the founding director of Carolina Demography at the Carolina Population Center at UNC. She said the location of the 14th House seat, alongside the new congressional district map, will be unclear until all the Census data is released.

“What we do know is almost all of our districts, with the exception of District 1 in the east, currently have an estimated population that’s larger than the ideal district size,” Tippett said. “So we’re going to see probably our urban districts get smaller to meet that district size of about 746,000 people and our rural districts may have to be larger geographically in order to really kind of meet that population threshold.”

According to the latest U.S. Census data, North Carolina’s population increased 9.5 percent since the 2010 Census. The state saw the 6th largest increase in population and is the 15th fastest growing state.

Tippett said the Carolina Demography estimate of the North Carolina population was higher than the numbers revealed by the Census Bureau Monday. The initial Census release does not include the county-level data which will be released beginning in August.

She said Carolina Demography estimates 43 of the 100 counties in the state may have lost population over the last decade.

“To have a lower population count at the state level it means either our fast growing counties maybe didn’t grow as quickly or as much as we thought they did,” Tippett said. “Our counties that had lost population maybe lost more people than we thought they did, or a combination of the two. So we’re going to be looking really closely to that release in the fall to really understand what’s been happening at the local level.”

To learn more about the 2020 Census data, click here.

 

Photo via AP Photo/Paul Sancya

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