Category: Census
PARCA Releases Report on Population Trends in Alabama
The Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama has released a report on population trends in Alabama based on recent U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
Birmingham followed a national trend of declining population in the city and its close-in suburbs as people moved farther from the city center into newer housing farther out.
The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area still ruled the state, though, coming in with more than twice the population of the second largest MSA, Huntsville. Read more.
Population Grows Across Alabama
More than half of Alabama counties grew in population between July 1, 2021, and July 1, 2022, reflecting more people moving into the state than in recent years and the population growth being more widespread than in recent years, according to a recent analysis by the Public Research Council of Alabama.
The biggest growth was concentrated around the Huntsville area and in the south in Baldwin County, next to Mobile’s urban center, according to the report, with other growth areas in the Wiregrass and northeast Alabama.
PARCA’s report was based on the Census Bureau’s latest population estimates.
“Generally, counties along the Interstate corridors are growing, as well as counties bordering Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida,” the report states. “On the western border with Mississippi, most counties are losing population.”
Alabama’s traditional urban centers — Jefferson, Montgomery and Mobile — lost population as people moved to other counties in the state. Read more.
Huntsville is Now Alabama’s Largest City, but the Birmingham Area Still Dwarfs other MSAs
Huntsville is now the largest city in Alabama, surpassing Birmingham by 14,273 residents, according to new information from the U.S. Census Bureau.
However, the Birmingham-Hoover metro area and Jefferson County still reign supreme in the state, topping the next-largest areas by hundreds of thousands of residents each. Read more.
Domestic Immigration Spur’s Alabama’s Population Growth
Alabama’s population has grown to more than 5 million people not because of residents expanding their families, but because of people moving into the state from other places in the country.
In fact, Alabama’s birth rate fell in the 2010’s and its death rate rose, which follows a national trend, according to a Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama analysis of U.S. Census Bureau estimates released earlier this month. Read more.
Alabama Avoids Loss of Congressional Seat with Slight Population Gain
Alabama avoided the loss of a congressional seat as its population grew from 4.8 million in 2010 to 5.03 million last year, according to figures released Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
State officials had feared Alabama would lose one of its seven seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and one of its nine Electoral College members, based on the 2020 census.
The census is taken every 10 years, and the 435 seats in the House are apportioned according to the population of the states. The Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama released in analysis in January, predicting Alabama would keep its seven congressional seats and that New York would lose one seat.
Read more.
The Census Is In: Alabama Will Keep 7 US House Seats for the Next Decade
Alabama will retain all seven of its seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, Gov. Kay Ivey announced Monday after seeing statewide population totals and Congressional apportionment results released by the Census Bureau. The results show that Alabama has grown 5.03 million residents, up from 4.8 million when the 2010 census was conducted. Read more.
Census Data Delay Puts Redistricting on Hold, Could Impact Candidates
A delay in U.S. Census Bureau data until this fall could mean an odd situation for the state’s elected officials and those who wish to unseat them in 2022. State campaign finance law allows candidates to start fundraising in late May of this year. But the required redrawing of legislative and congressional districts based on the new Census data now won’t be complete likely until late in the year. Read more.
Annual Population Numbers Indicate Alabama Might Hold On to Its Congressional Seats — Barely
The U.S. Census Bureau’s annual population estimate of U.S. residents indicates Alabama could be pitted against New York for the possible loss of a U.S. House of Representatives seat after the decennial census is released. The estimates as they stand now would put Alabama’s population just high enough to keep its present seven representatives, with New York losing a seat, according to an analysis by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama. Read more.
The Census Counting Is Done, but the Result Is Unknown
The counting has stopped, but nobody is releasing any tallies yet for the 2020 U.S. census in Alabama, and those final tallies hold the keys to federal funding and congressional redistricting.
Spokespersons and Census Bureau websites tell us that “99.9%” of the households in the state have either self-responded or answered questions from a door-knocking census mop-up worker. But just try to find out what that 99.9% is 99.9% of. If you go to the state response section of the Census 2020 site, it gets even more confusing. Read more.
Census Response Map Shows Lags as Field Operations Restart
About 1.4 million Alabama households have turned in their 2020 census forms, a state self-response rate of 56.7% compared to a national rate of 58.6%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
State agencies are now putting extra effort in those parts of the state where responses are lagging. A swath of Black Belt and southern counties, and a few in north Alabama, are trailing in mail-in, internet and telephone replies, according to a map maintained by the Census Bureau. Early this week, Coosa County in central Alabama had the lowest return rate at 26.6%. The response rate data is based on 2018 and 2019 population estimates.
Census kickoff efforts in March and April got off to a slow start because of the coronavirus. Read more and see interactive map.
