With a population loss of 3.2% over the past decade — the highest of any state in the nation — U.S. Census officials confirmed Monday what most had expected: West Virginia will lose a seat in the House of Representatives in the 2022 election.
During a news conference on 2020 Census Apportionment, U.S Census officials said West Virginia is one of seven states to lose a congressional seat, along with California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
West Virginia was one of three states to lose population from 2010 to 2020. During that time, U.S. population growth slowed to 7.4%, the slowest decade for population growth since 1930 to 1940, during the Great Depression, according to Census officials.
Population loss was negligible in the other states, with Mississippi losing 0.2% of its population, while Illinois lost 0.1%.
Utah was the fastest-growing state, increasing its population by 18.4%.
According to the census data, West Virginia’s population dropped by 59,278 in the past decade, falling to a total population of 1,793,716.
The 2020 census data sets the nation’s population, as of April 1, 2020 at 331,449,281.
Among growing states, Texas will gain two House seats, while Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon will each gain one. That confounded many projections, which had Texas gaining three seats and Florida adding two.
For West Virginia, the apportionment will mean legislators will have to eliminate a congressional district during redistricting for the first time since 1991, when population loss reduced the state’s congressional delegation from four members to three.
Harley O. “Bucky” Staggers Jr. was the odd man out in that redistricting, being drawn out of the 2nd District and forced to run against Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., in the 1st District, where he lost in the May 1992 primary election.
With only two congressional districts remaining, redistricting will be comparatively easier in 2021, since the only options will be to separate the districts either horizontally or vertically.
All states surrounding West Virginia experienced population growth in the past decade, with growth rates ranging from 7.9% in Virginia to 2.3% in Ohio.
Regionally, the South saw the most population growth, at 10.2%, followed by the West, at 9.2%, the Northeast, at 4.1%, and the Midwest, at 3.1%. Population growth slowed in all regions except the Northeast, compared to 2010 census data.
California remains the largest state, with 39.53 million residents, while Wyoming is the least-populated state, with 576,851 residents.
The 10 most-populous states have populations of between 10 million and 40 million residents, while the 10 least-populous states have populations of between 500,000 and 1.4 million, according to census data.
