NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Bay State's population has topped 7 million, according to the first 2020 numbers released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Monday.

 

Massachusetts saw an increase of 482,288 residents since 2010, or 7.4 percent, for a total of 7,029,917. That ranks the state at No. 15 for numerical change and 21 for percent change. The 2010 number was 6,547,629.

 

The state neither gained nor lost a congressional seat this time around. In 2010, Massachusetts lost one of its 10 districts when the 1st was merged with part of the 2nd Mass District, the first time it had lost a seat since 1992. Former U.S. Rep. John W. Olver, representing the 1st Mass, retired after the 2012 election won by current Congressman and Ways & Means Chairman Richie Neal of Springfield. Neal had served as representative to the 2nd Massachusetts District since 1989 and became the first to represent the newly redrawn 1st District.

 

Texas, which saw the highest percentage gain of all states at 15.9 percent, will get two more two House seats. Also gaining seats at one each are Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon. This means Montana will double its representation by going from one congressman to two.

 

Losing one seat each are California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. California, however, still has the greatest representation in the House at 52. Texas is still second with now 38. In a good example of how every resident counts, New York lost its seat by only 89 people.

 

Each state and commonwealth automatically has one representative; seats 51 through 435 (the number set by the  Reapportionment Act of 1929) are determined by population with each representing about 711,00 people. States losing seats did not necessarily lose population but rather did not grow as fast. California has 2.3 million more people than 2010 but Texas has 4 million more.

 

Should the District of Columbia or Puerto Rico be added as states, their representatives would be in addition to the current 435 until a resorting for the next election. This was done when Hawaii and Alaska became states in 1959.

 

Vermont saw 2.8 percent population growth, adding 17,336 people for a total of 643,077. The entire Northeast region saw 4.1 percent growth, or 2,291,908. The population is now 57,609,148, up from 55,317,240 in 2010.

 

The United States had a population increase of 22,703,743, or 7.4 percent, the lowest growth since 1930; the largest increase was 32,712,033, or 12 percent, between 1990 and 2000.

 

The total population is now 331,449,281, up from 308,745,538 in 2010. In comparison, the first Census of 1790, overseen by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, recorded 3,929,214 people.