Continuing almost a century-long trend, rural areas are expected to lose political power to cities after the 2020 census, according to analysis by The Hill.
Cities are gaining population, while rural areas are losing it, which will be reflected in the seats in the House of Representatives, according to the report.
"It continues the trend that we've seen since the 1930s of the northeast and the upper midwest losing, and the south and the west gaining," Election Data Services President Kimball Brace, who analyzes Census Bureau data and population trends, told The Hill.
The U.S. has grown by 19 million residents since the 2010 U.S. Census to 328 million, according to estimates before the 2020 census. Among those, 9.8 million have added to America's 100 largest counties between 2010 and 2018, and only 11 ofthe largest counties lost population – all of which are in Rust Belt and Northeastern cities, like Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh, per the report.
Among the states projected to lose seats:
- Illinois will lose one of its 18.
- Rhode Island will lose one of its two.
- Ohio will lose one of its 16.
- California will lose one of its 53.
Among the states projected to gain seats, per the report:
- Texas will add three seats.
- Florida is just 23,000 residents from adding a third seat.
- Montana will gain one to move to two seats.
- Arizona.
- Colorado.
- North Carolina.
- Oregon.
"When you've got 53 already, losing one doesn't probably make as much of a difference," Brace told The Hill. "When you're Rhode Island, going from two to one, it does make a difference."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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