WASHINGTON—Changes in the growth of recent (and future) credit union membership is reflected in recently released 2020 Census data, which show the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2020 was 331,449,281—with California being the most populous state.
For credit unions in states with slowly shrinking membership, or in cities where the pandemic and work-from-home arrangements has resulted in an outflow of residents, the changing numbers put a premium on the ability to serve members electronically and virtually, which lessens the effects of not having a geographical presence.
Indeed, the Michigan league recently cited that state’s successes during 2020 despite a shrinking population.
According to the Census Bureau, the resident population in the U.S. increased by 22,703,743 or 7.4% from 308,745,538 in 2010, the Census Bureau said. The population growth was the slowest in the U.S. since the Great Depression.
First-Time Release
Census Bureau Director Ron Jarmin noted that for the first time the Bureau has released data quality metrics on the same day it made the resident population counts available to the public.”
The population shift in the United States, primarily to the South and West, will also affect some CU and league advocacy efforts, as congressional seats are reapportioned, with some states losing seats (California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, each of which lost one) and other states gaining seats (Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon).
The new resident population statistics for the United States, each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are available on census.gov.
Four Data Points
- The most populous state was California (39,538,223); the least populous was Wyoming (576,851)
- The state that gained the most numerically since the 2010 Census was Texas (up 3,999,944 to 29,145,505), which also added two congressional seats.
- The fastest-growing state since the 2010 Census was Utah (up 18.4% to 3,271,616)
- Puerto Rico's resident population was 3,285,874, down 11.8% from 3,725,789 in the 2010 Census