How much did Kentucky grow since 2010? Not as much as in earlier decades.
The population of Kentucky grew a modest 3.8 percent from 2010 to 2020, according to the U.S Census Bureau.
The state’s population as of April 1, 2020 was 4,505,836, up from 4,339,367 in 2010, the Census announced on Monday.
The nation’s population grew by more than 22 million, to a total of 331,449,281. That was a 7.4 percent increase over 2010.
Still, that was the second-lowest decade of growth for the nation, behind only the Great Depression years of the 1930s, according to the Census.
The U.S. grew by 9.7 percent between 2000 and 2010.
Kentucky also had seen much greater growth in recent decades, adding 9.7 percent to the population between 1990 and 2000 and 7.4 percent between 2000 and 2010.
A decline in births, an increase in deaths and less net migration into Kentucky were key factors in the low population growth of the 2010s, according to Tom Sawyer with the Kentucky State Data Center at the University of Louisville.
For instance, deaths in the state totaled about 42,000 in 2010, but that number rose to 49,000 in 2019 as baby boomers aged, Sawyer said. The state and nation haven’t yet reached the end of the baby-boom generation, so the increase in deaths will continue for several years, he said.
On top of that, 94,000 fewer people moved into Kentucky between 2010 and 2020 than in the prior decade, Sawyer said.
California remains the most populous state in the country, at 39.5 million, while Wyoming is the most sparse, with just 576,851 residents.
West Virginia, which has been hit hard by a loss of coal jobs, had the greatest population decline since 2010, at 3.2 percent. Illinois and Mississippi were the only other states to lose population, but only by a fraction of 1 percent.
Utah grew the most of any state, at 18.4 percent, followed by Idaho at 17.3 percent.
The growth in Kentucky during the 2010s was the lowest since the 1980s, when the state grew by just seven-tenths of one percent.
That cost the state a seat in the U.S. House in the nationwide reapportionment after the 1990 Census.
Kentucky will keep its current six seats this time.
However, the boundaries of federal House districts — and of state legislative districts — could well change because of population changes in counties.
The government won’t release those county-level numbers until later this year.
It is likely that coal counties in Eastern Kentucky and rural counties elsewhere that have lost manufacturing jobs will see a drop in population, while the population will be up in the so-called Golden Triangle bordered by Lexington, Louisville and Northern Kentucky.
The Bowling Green area also has seen significant growth in recent years.
Kentucky’s population density continues to be in the middle of the pack, at 114.1 people per square mile. That was 25th of 52, counting Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
That compares with 1.3 in Alaska, by far the lowest density, and 1,263 in New Jersey, the state with the highest population density.
This story was originally published April 27, 2021 at 8:12 AM.
