In past decade, Connecticut has grown by less than 1%

But despite low population ranking, House seats will stay

Connecticut’s population grew less than 1% in the past decade, the fourth slowest among the states and the most anemic in the Northeast, the Census Bureau reported Monday.

The state’s 3.6 million residents were 31,847 more than in the 2010 census, up 0.9%. Connecticut, which ranked 47th in percent change, was followed by Illinois, Mississippi and West Virginia, which each lost population.

One piece of good news: Despite the state’s slow growth, its representation in the U.S. House of Representatives will remain at five seats.

Texas, Florida and other Sun Belt states gained seats while New York and Ohio will have fewer House members. Connecticut last lost a House seat following the 2000 Census.

Gov. Ned Lamont was optimistic about the future even if the last 10 years were nothing to brag about.

“We are going to do a lot better in the next decade, I can tell you that,” he told reporters at his COVID-19 briefing at the Capitol. “At least we kept our congressional delegation intact.”

The U.S. population rose to 331,449,281, the Census Bureau said, a 7.4% increase that was the second-slowest ever.

The slow-growing population has a cascading effect. It’s a drag on the economy, which must struggle to attract new workers and will in turn slow revenue from income and sales taxes that would be more robust with a faster-growing population.

The conservative Yankee Institute for Public Policy was quick to blame Democrats’ fiscal policies for failing to attract residents or driving many away.

“We need to find ways to lower taxes, not hike them and to make it easier — not harder — to start and expand a business here,” said Carol Platt Liebau, the group’s president. “It’s time to stop blaming the cold NewEngland winters, the Cold War ending, the Whalers leaving or any other external factor. This is Hartford’s fault. They broke it and they have to fix it — for the struggling families of

Connecticut.”

Elsewhere in New England, population rose by 2.6% in Maine, 4.6% in New Hampshire, 4.3% in Rhode Island and 2.8% in Vermont. Massachusetts added nearly half a million residents since the 2010 Census, increasing its population by 7.4%.

Connecticut launched its counting campaign in December 2018, an effort led by Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz who visited towns and cities urging local officials and volunteers to not leave out one resident.

In addition to apportioning political power by redistributing U.S. House seats, Census data also are used to steer federal money. For Connecticut, that amounted to nearly $8 billion in 2015 for Medicaid, food stamps, highway planning and numerous other programs, according to research by George Washington University and cited by state officials.

The census, required by the U.S. Constitution every 10 years, will be used to rearrange state legislative seats. Federal officials said data for that project will be available later this year.

The Census reported the most populous state was California, at 39.5 million, though it will lose one congressional seat as growth slowed. Wyoming was the least populous state, at 576,851.

Texas gained the most residents since the 2010 Census, up about 4 million, to 29.1 million. It will add two House members, the greatest gain among the states.

Utah was the fastest-growing state in the past decade, up 18.4%, to about 3.3 million.

Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon will each gain a congressional district. In addition to California, states that will each lose a congressional district are Illinois, Michigan, NewYork, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.