Census: Washington state population increases to 7.7 million

The Divide

Two top Republican lawmakers in Olympia discuss efforts to curb Governor Jay Inslee's emergency powers 

OLYMPIA, Wash. - The population of Washington state grew by nearly 15% over the past 10 years to more than 7.7 million, according to figures released Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

That was a much sharper pace of increase than the national population, which rose by 7.4%, the second-slowest ever. Census officials say the 2020 U.S. population is now more than 331.4 million.

Despite Washington’s population jump it won’t be getting any more U.S. House seats. It’s number will stay at 10.

Oregon was one of the states that will get another U.S. representative, going from five to six seats.

Last year, the Census Bureau revealed that the U.S. population grew by the smallest rate in at least 120 years from 2019 to 2020. It was a trend that demographers say provided a glimpse of the toll of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The release of the apportionment numbers comes almost four months later than planned because of delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as anomalies discovered in the data as the numbers were being crunched.

Stay connected with Q13 News on all platforms:

DOWNLOAD: Q13 News and Weather Apps
WATCH: Q13 News Live
SUBSCRIBE: Q13 FOX on YouTube
FOLLOW: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram