Tag: 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Reaching Everyone in the 2020 Census Might be Harder in Alabama

By WBHM

A census reminder might not be the most memorable part of an inaugural speech. But that didn’t stop Gov. Kay Ivey from mentioning next year’s decennial count in her address in January. Leaders in Alabama say the 2020 Census is especially important for the state.

It’s for two main reasons. First, billions of federal dollars a year are divvied up based on census numbers. Secondly, Alabama could lose a congressional seat. That’s because the state’s population hasn’t been growing as quickly as other states.

Meanwhile, Alabama has been a historically difficult state to count. Read more.