Census Result: New York Likely To Lose Two U.S. House Seats, Florida Gains Two

One of most important aspects of the U.S. Census is the resulting reapportionment of seats in the House of Representatives. While many of the changes will go as expected, a just-released new estimate suggests a couple of changes that were not.

A new estimate of House reapportionment gains and losses resulting from this year’s Census reveals a larger-than-expected impact on Florida and New York. According to Washington-based Election Data Services, which reviewed new Census data from a private-sector demographic firm, Florida would gain two House seats and New York would lose two seats. They would join two other states that already were projected to have multiple-seat changes.

Based on the tentative Census data, Texas is expected to gain four House seats and Ohio likely will lose two seats. According to the EDS estimate, six other states each would gain one seat: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington. Eight states would each lose one seat: Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. In addition to the Florida and New York changes, the other major switch in the projected reapportionment is that Missouri will lose a House seat instead of Minnesota.

The formal Census report will be issued in December. Reapportioning becomes effective with the 2012 elections.