The Census Bureau just released 2020 U.S. data and it shows Connecticut’s population grew and became more diverse over the last decade. Meanwhile, Long Island’s population grew by 3.1% since 2010 and is also becoming more diverse.
Most of the Connecticut's population growth is in Fairfield County. It gained more than 40,000 people. New Haven and Hartford counties also had some growth. But the state’s five other counties lost people.
Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz led the state’s effort to ensure everyone was counted. She said 1 in 11 Connecticut residents is now an immigrant.
“We continue to have an extremely diverse population in our state which makes our state vibrant, and by the way encourages others to come. And that’s one of the reasons why we have 31,847 new people reflected in our 2020 census.”
The state's population growth is enough to prevent Connecticut from losing a congressional seat.
On Long Island, Rebecca Sanin is with the Health and Welfare Council. They helped with census outreach in hard to count communities.
“This data has a huge impact on our future for the next 10 years. So that's why I’m particularly proud of our region for working so hard to make sure that we could count our neighbors. Because the impact is a 10-year impact," Sanin said.
The census data shows that Long Island’s white population declined by nearly 200,000. That drop was offset by an increase of more than 288,000 residents who identify themselves as members of minority groups.
