New York State’s population grew by a hair in the year that ended July 1, but because Sun Belt states like Nevada, Arizona and Florida are growing faster, the Empire State stands to lose seats in Congress after the 2010 Census.
An analysis by Queens College of population trends suggests that Texas will gain as many as four Congressional seats and Florida’s delegation will grow by two, while New York and Ohio will lose two seats each.
The projected decline in House representation is only the latest installment of long trend.
New York’s delegation in the House of Representatives peaked at 45 seats, following the 1930 Census. As other states grew more quickly, New York’s share in the House got smaller. Now, New York has only 29 seats, and stands to have only 27 after the next Census.
That's a pretty damn harsh dose of reality. It's bad enough that New York is just a shadow of what it was nearly a century ago, but the re-apportionment is likely to have some nasty direct consequences for the Utica/Rome area in particular. There's a good chance that the 23rd and 24th congressional districts will be the ones that see the biggest changes as their borders are redrawn to cover even more of the state's sparsely populated northern territory. That means less political clout for the state as a whole and less regional power both at the state and federal level.
On the bright side, there's still plenty of time for you to move down here to Texas before the 2010 census. Over the next year you'll be able to pick up some amazing housing bargains as the sub-prime meltdown spins off a slew of undervalued properties. Even better, in the unlikely event you can't find a job that pays more than what you were earning in New York you'll still have more money in your pocket thanks to our low property and sales taxes.
Oh, and did I mention we don't have a state income tax?
