Wisconsin has held onto its eight congressional seats, according to new U.S. Census Bureau reapportionment data.

The state’s population grew 3.6 percent over the past decade to nearly 5.9 million people. That growth rate exceeded the average for the Midwest of 3.1 percent.

But it was well behind the 7.4 percent growth the nation saw as a whole as the U.S. population neared 331.5 million.

It’s also a significant drop from the 6 percent growth Wisconsin saw between 2000 and 2010.

The latest figures keep Wisconsin as the 20th largest state by population.

Population growth among Wisconsin’s immediate neighbors included:
*Minnesota 7.6 percent.
*Iowa 4.7 percent.
*Indiana 4.7 percent.
*Michigan 2 percent.
*Illinois minus-0.1 percent.

The states losing a seat are California, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Texas will gain two seats. Those gaining one are Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon.

District-level data to draw new lines won’t be available until September.

But comparing the new population number to past estimates by congressional district suggests which ones will have to change the most in the upcoming redistricting process.

Today’s Census count means each of the eight congressional districts will include around 737,000 residents.

The 2019 population estimate for the 2nd CD in south-central Wisconsin was nearly 774,000. That means the Dane County-dominated district, now represented by Dem Mark Pocan, will have to shed residents.

The 4th CD, which is largely made up of Milwaukee and is represented by Dem Gwen Moore, had just over 704,000 residents in 2019, suggesting it will have to pick up around 33,000 more.

The Census number released today was 39,124 residents higher than what the Department of Administration had estimated as Wisconsin’s population for 2019.

See the data:
https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2020/dec/2020-apportionment-data.html

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