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Census shows record growth
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The USA begins the new millennium with a record 281,420,906 people -- for the first time a larger population than the Cenus Bureau had estimated, according to numbers released Thursday.
The first numbers from the 2000 Census show that the nation's population jumped 13.2% since the last census was taken in 1990.
The population is 1.4 million more than the Census Bureau had estimated because the Census might have done a better job than expected of counting undocumented immigrants, Census Director Kenneth Prewitt said.
As it has for more than two centuries, the nation's population continued to shift West and South where eight states gained more than 1 million people each. The fastest growing states were Nevada, up 66.3%, and Arizona, up 40%.
Those shifts created some surprises in the reallocation of seas in the House of Representatives, which is based in the census.
Twelve seats affecting 18 states shifted. The Sun Belt had the biggest gains with Arizona, Texas, Florida and Georgia each gaining two seats. The Northeast and Midwest lost seats, with New York and Pennsylvania each losing two.
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