North Carolina was one of the fastest-growing states over the last decade, but it wasn't enough to earn the state another seat in Congress.
U.S. Census numbers released Tuesday showed that the state fell 15,700 people short of getting a 14th seat in the 435-seat U.S. House of Representatives. Instead, Minnesota held on to the seat it could have lost to the Tar Heel state. With a temperate climate and the lure of jobs, North Carolina continued decades of robust growth, moving ahead of New Jersey to become the 10th most populous state. According to 2010 Census data, North Carolina grew 18.5 percent, the fastest rate in the Southeast.
The state gained nearly 1.5 million people since 2000, the fifth most of any state. The U.S. Census counted 9,535,483 North Carolinians.
"It clearly puts North Carolina among the megastates of America," said Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Public Life at UNC-Chapel Hill.
But unlike the congressional apportionment that occurred after the 2000 Census, North Carolina didn't quite grow fast enough to add another seat in the U.S. House. A decade ago, North Carolina beat Utah for a seat by a difference of 856 people.
North Carolina will continue to have 13 U.S. House seats, currently held by seven Democrats and six Republicans.
The shape of the districts is likely to change when a new Republican majority takes over in the state legislature in January. Those changes would take effect before the 2012 election.
The census showed that the decades-long shift in population to the West and Southeast has not abated. Nevada grew fastest, while Texas grew the most, gaining four seats in Congress.
In the Southeast, Georgia and South Carolina will each add one, while Florida will gain two.
"People follow jobs, and then political power follows people," Guillory said.
Tuesday's numbers included only a national population count and a state-by-state breakdown.
More detailed census data, including municipal populations, will be released in the next few months.
A slice of the pie
On April 1, Census Day, American's population stood at 308,745,538.
That's 27 million more than a decade earlier, a 9.7 percent increase, the second slowest rate of growth for the country in the past century.
At stake for states and local communities is more than $400 billion in federal funding for issues such as transportation, health care, education and senior housing.
State legislatures will draw their maps based on Census data, and 18 states either lost or gained congressional representation.
Faster than average
North Carolina has grown at double-digit rates each decade in the last century. But in the last two decades, the state's population growth has far outstripped the national rate, as people move to the state for nearly every reason imaginable.
"We have kind of been a cat's meow as a destination for migrants," said James H. Johnson Jr., a UNC-Chapel Hill business professor and demographer.
With three metro areas - the Triangle, Charlotte and the Triad - leading the way, many relocate for jobs in technology, banking and education. Many are young, and have children once they arrive.
Some move here to take care of aging parents, others for the cost of living. Northeasterners who move to Florida and tire of the heat eventually find their way here. In demographic circles they are known as "halfbacks," because they moved halfway back home.
'A destination for all'
"We're a destination for all demographic groups," Johnson said.
Though some rural areas lag, Johnston noted that growth is happening in some less populous parts of the state as well. "Any place there's water and mountains, you're going to have growth," he said.
Like many parts of North Carolina, the western edge boasts a diverse economy, said Scott Hamilton, president of AdvantageWest, an economic development organization that represents 23 western counties. "I don't think we could put our finger on one thing and say, 'That's it,' " Hamilton said.
Some retire to Western North Carolina. Telecommuters like the area's proximity to Charlotte and Atlanta. Others are drawn by the outdoor recreation or jobs in tourism and manufacturing.
Wrap it all together and it shows why people continue to move to North Carolina, even as the infrastructure struggles to keep up.
"There are challenges there," Bob Coats, census liaison to Gov. Bev Perdue, said of the influx of new residents. "But it's also complimentary."
