​The US Census Bureau officers released their latest population projections in order to measure national population growth for the period between July 1, 2018 and July 1, 2019.  The results find the national rate of growth slowing to 0.5%, mostly as a result of decreased immigration.  The peak period for the decade came during the July 1, 2014 – July 1, 2015 period when the growth rate registered 0.73%.
 
With these numbers come the ability to project which states will gain and lose congressional seats in 2020 reapportionment.  The national reapportionment will be calculated and announced after the 2020 census is completed.  The states will receive their congressional seat quota a year from now, with a release typically coming during the period between Christmas and New Year’s.
 
If current projections prove correct, Texas looks to gain three seats, Florida two, with Arizona, Colorado, Montana, North Carolina, and Oregon each slated to gain one.  The losing states look to be Alabama, California, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia.
 
If these projections prove true, California will lose a seat for the first time in history.  It’s also realistic that the actual totals could yield a two-seat loss for Illinois or New York, and possibly both.  Right now, it appears ten congressional seats will change states, but that number could grow.  Usually, the actual numbers tend to differ slightly from the early published projections.

​Yesterday, the Trump Administration ordered the Commerce Department to move ahead with printing the 2020 census questionnaires, signaling that they will not make another attempt to add the citizenship query to the official questionnaire.  Last week, the US Supreme Court ruled that the government does have the right to ask the question but returned this particular case to the Commerce Department to conduct a further inquiry into the motivation behind such inclusion.  Yesterday’s action indicates the Administration will no longer fight to add the question.