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Courtesy of the US Census Bureau
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Today, the Census Bureau released data collected from the 2010 Census, showing a nearly 21 percent rate of population growth in Texas over the last 10 years. According to these findings, the Texas congressional delegation will gain four new seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
It comes as no surprise that Texas is a great place to live. Adding four new U.S. House seats will help give Texas even more say in shaping the direction of our country – and it needs that Texas influence these days.
Right now, the House of Representatives is limited to 435 and all members represent about the same number of people, currently around 650,000. So as people move around the country, it changes how many representatives each state may have In terms of the rest of the country, 2010 Census data also reveals that Arizona, Nevada, South Carolina, Georgia, Utah, and Washington state will all gain one congressional seat. Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, and Louisiana will each lose a seat. New York and Ohio will each lose two congressional seats.
Census numbers also determine how districts for the U.S. House, State House, and State Senate are drawn within the states. The 13th District currently encompasses close to 40,000 square miles, and there is a possibility it could grow even larger.
Many programs, such as Medicaid and local community development, will also be affected by the data released today. A lot of government programs are tied to population, and formulas that depend on census data are used to determine the amount of federal dollars that comes to our area.
Finally, the Census determines how many electoral votes each state will have in the 2012 presidential election and beyond, which means that Texas will have more say in the choice of our next President as well. This is because the number of electoral votes granted to each state is equal to the number of representatives a state has in the House and the Senate.
If you would like to read more about the Census Bureau data, please click here.
