April 26, 2021

The U.S. Census Bureau announced that the 2020 Census shows the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2020, was 331,449,281.

The U.S. resident population represents the total number of people living in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The resident population increased by 22,703,743 or 7.4% from 308,745,538 in 2010.

The Census Bureau also released the population counts to be used for apportioning the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. In accordance with Title 2 of the U.S. Code, a congressionally defined formula is applied to the apportionment population to distribute the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives among the states.

• After the 1790 Census, each member of the House represented about 34,000 residents. Since then, the House has more than quadrupled in size (from 105 to 435 seats), and each member will represent an average of 761,169 people based on the 2020 Census.
• New York State will lose one seat, and each district will average 719,298 (an increase of 63,954 people compared to 10 years ago).
• If the NY State Census total was 89 additional people New York would not have lost any seats.

See the full map at https://www.redistrictingandyou.org/

The official numbers for redistricting are due in August, but the maps below, from the CUNY Graduate Center can help viewers understand the challenges that the line drawers will face.

While the districts that are most likely to be “under” the average are upstate, the lines for virtually every district will have to be redrawn. Note that the linemakers will have to add population to the Staten Island, Southern Nassau and the Eastern Suffolk districts. Where do the people come from?