US marks slowest population growth since Great Depression

WASHINGTON (AP) — The first numbers from the 2020 census are out and they show that America’s population growth has declined to its slowest rate since the Great Depression — a total now of just under 331.5 million.

At the same time, the nation’s political center of gravity has kept shifting further to the Republican-led South and West.

Texas, Florida and other Sun Belt states are gaining congressional seats as states with chillier climates like New York and Ohio lose them.

One historic Western exception: California is losing a seat for the first time ever.

North Carolina will gain a congressional seat, its fourteenth in the U.S. House of Representatives.