Census figures cost Illinois a congressional seat
Associated press, March 2020
Updated 4/26/2021 5:44 PM
SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois will lose a seat in Congress because of stagnating population, continuing a long slide that has cost it political influence nationally, according to the 2020 census results announced Monday.
It's become a decennial tradition in the state, which has forfeited 10 U.S. House seats in the last nine censuses, leaving it with 17.
The census reported that Illinois' population in 2020 was 12,822,739, a drop of 0.32% from a decade earlier. The number reported was the one the census uses for determining congressional apportionment, which includes 10,231 Illinoisans living overseas.
The decrease will likely spell a loss of federal funding while at the same time strengthening Democrats' political grip on the state.