With immigration leveling off and a declining birthrate, the United States may be entering an era of substantially lower population growth, demographers said.  The 2020 census brought good new to California and other high population centers.

The new decennial census counted 331,449,281 Americans as of April 1, 2020. The total was up by just 7.4 percent over the previous decade.

New York, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia each lost a seat, in addition to California. Texas gained two seats, and Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon each gained one.

The importance of counting as many people as possible was highlighted by New York, which would have avoided losing the one seat if 89 more residents had participated in the census.