| The results of the 2010 Census for Illinois are available. The Census Bureau has just released the data and there is a lot of it. For your information there is a map showing changes in Illinois’ population by counties along with other pertinent detail at http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/
January, 2011
Preliminary census and appropriation numbers were released late in December by the Census Bureau. Here are parts of their commentary concerning the 2011 Census and its implications:
The population of the United States grew modestly between 2000 and 2010; the rate of growth was 9.7%, the slowest since the Great Depression. According to the Census Bureau, there are 308,745,538 of us living in the United States; in 2000 there were 281,421,906 of us.
The population of the U.S., according to the Census Bureau, comprises less than 5% of the world’s population.
Illinois’ population grew by a little more than 3% - from 12,419,293 in 2000 to 12,830,632 in 2010. Illinois will lose a congressional seat, as will Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. New York and Ohio are giving up two each.
The losses to these states will be the gains in Texas (+4) and Florida (+2). Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington will gain one seat each. Clearly, this population shift from the Midwest and East to the West and Southeast will affect significantly the makeup of the members of the Congress as well as the distribution of federal grant dollars.
New York and Florida will now, for the first time, have an equal number of seats – 27. In 1950, New York had 43 seats and Florida 8. For the first time since becoming a state in 1850, California did not gain a Congressional seat.
Beginning with the 2012 elections, the average population of a House District will be 710,767, up from 646,952 in 2000. The number of House seats, at 435, will remain steady.
Illinois’ loss continues the decline begun in 1930: in 1930, Illinois sent 27 members to Congress; in 2012 it will send 18.
The outcome of Election 2010 has consequences for redistricting as well. In most states the legislature is given nearly complete control of the redistricting process. Of the 49 states who elect bicameral legislatures (voters in Nebraska elect a unicameral), Democrats comprise 37% of state houses and Republicans 61%; the Oregon House is evenly divided.
The state senate percentage is 55% Republican and 43% Democrat; the Arkansas Senate is evenly divided). There are 20 states headed by Democratic governors, 29 by Republicans and one by an independent.
Illinois’ redistricting is the purview of the General Assembly; the map it draws is passed via legislation, and the Governor is required to either sign it or veto it.
More detailed redistricting data is scheduled to be released during February and March at which point state legislatures, including Illinois’, will begin the process of drawing new legislative and congressional districts.
The Census Bureau will continue to publish data from the 2010 Census over the next 2 years, including more precise population numbers and characteristics for cities and municipalities.
For more information about Census 2010, go to the Census Bureau website: http://2010.census.gov/2010census/; for information about the 2009 release of American Community Survey (ACS) information, go to http://www.census.gov/acs/www/ |
