Census: Virginia will hold steady at 11 congressional seats

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia’s population grew over the past decade but not enough to gain an additional seat in Congress, according to new figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Monday.

Monday’s data release was the first to emerge from the nation’s once-a-decade head count. It showed that from 2010 to 2020, Virginia’s resident population grew by 7.9% to 8,631,393. That growth will not change Virginia’s allotted number of congressional seats, 11.

Altogether, the U.S. population rose to 331,449,281, the Census Bureau said, a 7.4% increase that was the second-slowest ever.

Because the number of seats in the House of Representatives is set at 435, apportionment is a zero-sum game with one state’s gain resulting in another state’s loss.

Texas was the biggest winner — the second-most populous state added two congressional seats, while Florida and neighboring North Carolina gained one. Colorado, Montana and Oregon all also added residents and gained seats. States losing seats included Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

More detailed figures will be released later this year showing populations by race, Hispanic origin, gender and housing at geographic levels as small as neighborhoods. That redistricting data will be used for redrawing precise congressional and legislative districts, a process in Virginia that will be overseen by a newly created bipartisan commission.

The release of Monday’s data came almost four months later than planned because of delays caused by the pandemic and anomalies discovered in the data as the numbers were being crunched.