The U.S. Census Bureau says Indiana’s population grew about 5% during the past decade to nearly 6.8 million residents and the state held onto its nine U.S. House seats.
Census data released Monday from the 2020 national headcount show that Indiana’s population grew 4.7% between 2010 and 2020, from about 6.5 million residents in 2010 to 6.8 million in 2020, for a net gain of nearly 302,000 residents.
Indiana lost one seat after the 2000 count, but held onto its nine congressional seats in 2010 and now in 2020.
Delayed for several months in part by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Census Bureau released the first results of the 2020 Census, known as the "apportionment population counts" at a virtual news conference Monday afternoon.
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Those population counts determine each state's representation in the U.S. House as well as its electoral votes, and inform states as they redraw districts in the legislative maps.
Illinois will lose one seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to drop to 17, the Census Bureau said, one of seven states nationwide to each lose one seat. The others include: California, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, according to the Census Bureau.
Six states will gain those seven seats: Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon each gain one, while Texas will gain two. The number of seats in the remaining 37 states will not change, officials said.
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The 435 seats in the U.S. House are divided among the states every 10 years after the Census, based on population. Once the Census data is released, each state can then begin the process of redrawing the maps of its congressional and legislative districts based on the new information, guided by each individual state's laws governing redistricting.
