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northeastern illinois planning commission |
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northeastern illinois planning commission |
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The Commerce Department's Census Bureau released today the first results from Census 2000, showing the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, was 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 persons counted during the 1990 census. In Illinois, the resident population on April 1, 2000 stood at 12,419,293, up 988,691 (or 8.6%) from 10 years before. The numeric change of nearly a million in Illinois' population was triple the gain occurring in the sluggish 20-year period from 1970 to 1990 and consistent with the average gain of about 900,000 each decade from 1880 to 1970. In the process, Illinois supplanted Pennsylvania as the nation's fifth most populous state. The most populous state in the country was California (33,871,648), followed by Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois. The state that gained the most population since the 1990 census was also California, up 4,111,627. Illinois' gain of nearly one million residents was exceeded by only 8 states, all of them either in the South or West. Regionally, the South and West picked up the bulk of the nation's population increase, 14,790,890 and 10,411,850, respectively. The Northeast and Midwest also grew, up 2,785,149 for the former and 4,724,144 for the latter. Illinois, by itself, accounted for 21% of the entire population gain in the Midwest. The data shown in the tables below include the resident population of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico for April 1, 2000 (Census 2000) and for April 1, 1990 (1990 Census). Consistent with the January 1999 U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Department of Commerce v. House of Representatives, 525 U.S. 316, 119 S. Ct. 765 (1999)), the resident population counts for April 1, 2000 do not reflect the use of statistical sampling to correct for overcounts or undercounts. Important note: the first release of Census 2000 population counts for sub-state geographic areas like counties, townships, and municipalities in Illinois will occur in March 2001. At that time, data on the composition of the population by race and Hispanic origin down to the block level will be issued.
The fundamental reason for conducting the decennial census of the United States is to determine the number of members of the House of Representatives each of the 50 states is entitled to have. The distribution of members in the other chamber of the U.S. Congress, the Senate, is unaffected by the apportionment process, as the Constitution provides two senators for each state. The apportionment totals were calculated by a congressionally-defined formula, in accordance with Title 2 of the U.S. Code, to reapportion among the states the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The apportionment population consists of the resident population of the 50 states, plus the overseas military and federal civilian employees and their dependents living with them who could be allocated to a state. Each member of the House represents a population of about 647,000. According to the current method of determining reapportionment, Illinois will lose one seat in the House of Representatives, falling from 20 seats to 19 despite a population gain of nearly one million from 1990 to 2000. Its sister states in the Midwest--Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio--will also lose a seat, again due to the more rapid growth occurring elsewhere. Illinois has now lost 8 House seats since 1930 as the nation's population has spread South and West. Important note: the apportionment count for a particular state does not equal the resident population because it also includes the state's overseas population.
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Posted 12/29/00
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