South is the fastest growing region, according to 2020 US Census results

The South is the fastest growing region in the United States, according to newly released data from the 2020 census.

The region had a 10.2% increase in population over the last decade, census officials said Monday as they released state-level data determining how many seats each state will have in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Western region grew by 9.2%, the Northeast by 4.1% and the Midwest by 3.1%, according to census officials.

The South includes Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.

Tennessee as a whole grew by 8.9% from 2010, according to census data. It now has a resident population of 6,910,840. Tennessee will continue to have its nine seats in the U.S. House.

Georgia grew by 10.6% in that time period, Florida by 14.6% and Texas by 15.9%. Some states had less growth, including Arkansas at 3.3%. Mississippi lost population, with -0.2% growth.

Monday's Census data release only contains information about total populations in each state, not specific information like the demographics of the population and where they reside that states will use to determine how they draw their congressional districting maps.

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said Monday that redistricting data would be available by the end of September.

The release of the apportionment numbers Monday afternoon comes almost four months later than planned because of delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and anomalies discovered in the data as the numbers were being crunched.

COVID-19 delayed delivery of Census questionnaires for hard-to-reach populations during the 2020 spring quarantine and delayed operations since then to reach households that failed to respond.

According to the census, there are 334,735,155 people living in the United States and Puerto Rico, an increase of 7.1% over the 2010 census.

In the United States alone, there are 331,449,281 people, a growth rate of 7.4%. That’s a lower growth rate than between the 2000-2010 census, which was a 9.7% increase. 

Source: Knoxville News Sentinel, Katherine Burgess

The East Tennessee Economic Development Agency markets and recruits business for the 15 counties in the greater Knoxville-Oak Ridge region of East Tennessee. Visit www.eteda.org

 

Published April 30, 2021