ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia gained a million new residents from 2010 to 2020 according to U.S. Census results released Monday, with the state still growing more rapidly than the nation. But for the first time since 1990, the state will not add a congressional seat, as the state’s population growth slowed noticeably from the breakneck pace of the previous two decades.
Georgia’s total population rose above 10.7 million from 9.7 million a decade ago. That 10.6% growth was the 12th fastest in the nation.
Percentage-wise, though, it was the slowest growing decade for Georgia since the 1940s, back when the state only had about 3 million residents, and pales behind the 26.4% increase in population the state saw in the 1990s and the 18.3% growth it saw in the 2000s. It’s the first time since the 1990 Census that Georgia won’t add a congressional seat, holding steady at 14. Before 1990, Georgia had 10 congressional seats for six decades.
Georgia rose from the ninth largest state following the 2010 count to the eighth largest state now. It added the fourth-most number of new residents overall, behind Texas, Florida and California, respectively. Georgia’s growth is part of an overall decades-long shift of population and political power toward the South and West.
The numbers are the opening bell for once-in-a-decade redrawing of district lines for everything from congressional seats down to county commission and city council positions. Because of COVID-19 related delays, the Census Bureau won’t transmit redistricting data until August, with full data promised by Sept. 30 at the latest.