2020 Census: Illinois Population Down Slighlty
The Illinois population shrunk only slightly, by .1 percent residents according to the first set of long-awaited of 2020 census data released Thursday.
According to the data, Illinois population declined from 12,830,632 residents in 2010 to 12,812,508 residents in 2020.
Overall, the U.S. Census Bureau said that the data shows a growing, diversifying country where populations are increasingly moving toward metro areas.
This is especially true in Illinois, where only 15 of the state’s 102 counties saw a population increase, most of them in northeast part of the state. Among U.S. metro areas, Danville in Vermilion County saw one of the sharpest declines, seeing a 9.1 percent decrease in population.
The Census Bureau also highlighted many demographic changes in the country. While white residents remain the largest racial or ethnic group in the country, the amount of people reporting themselves as “white alone” decreased by 8.6 percent since 2010. The Hispanic or Latino population grew by 23 percent over the past decade, to 62.1 million residents. The bureau’s statisticians note that part of this change may be due to changes in the way the census asks residents to report their race.
Click Here to view the 2020 U.S. Census results.