Northeast clings to population five years after pandemic

(The Center Square) – Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the nation, population in most Northeastern states has leveled out, climbing above 2020 rates by just over one percentage point.

The 58 million people living north of the Mason-Dixon line – Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont – saw swings in population as people used remote work policies to flee bigger cities.

Since then, only New York is still in the negative, with roughly 201,000 fewer people, or minus-0.6%, living there today. The largest recoveries came in Maine (3.69%), Connecticut (3.04%), New Jersey (3%), New Hampshire (2.65%) and Massachusetts (2.42%).

Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont posted more conservative gains, at 0.49%, 1.6% and 0.26%, respectively.

Nationwide, population growth declined, which has been attributed to stricter immigration enforcement. As such, several blue states appear set to lose electoral college votes while red states will make sweeping gains, the new data from the U.S. Census Bureau suggests. 

The American Redistricting Project estimated Texas would gain four seats in 2030 based on recent Census data and Florida would gain two seats. On the other end, California is projected to lose 4 seats. 

North Carolina, Georgia, Idaho, Utah and Arizona would gain one additional seat respectively. However, New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Oregon would lose one seat, respectively. 

Andrew Rice contributed to this report.