The U.S. Census Bureau has released its latest population projections, and the trend lines established eight years ago are continuing for the five Times News counties.

Lehigh is showing the greatest growth with a 4.7% gain between 2010 and 2018. That’s the third fastest growing county in Pennsylvania next only to Cumberland County (Carlisle) and Centre County (State College) (5.4%).

Lehigh remains the 10th-largest county in the commonwealth with 366,494 people as of last year, according to government estimates.

Northampton County, the 13th largest county in the state, also showed growth, although not nearly as much as Lehigh. Northampton posted a 1.8% gain during the eight-year period to bring its population to 303,405.

The numbers for the two counties that make up the heart of the Lehigh Valley reflect the strong economic and housing growth that has been going on for nearly a decade.

Fueled by a resurgent city of Allentown, whose population has grown to nearly 121,000 — third-largest in the state, next only to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Allentown was one of six cities in the nation to be named a National Success Story by the Urban Land Institute for its downtown redevelopment project.

The other three area counties showed declines, with Schuylkill noting the steepest drop at 3.8%. Schuylkill, the 24th largest among the state’s 67 counties, has 142,569 people.

Carbon showed a 2.2% loss to 63,853 and remains as 40th largest among the 67, while Monroe, which in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s was the second-fastest growing county in the state, continues to lose population. The latest government report indicates a loss of 1.1% with a population of 168,046, 20th largest in the state.

Philadelphia, the state’s largest county and made up solely of the City of Brotherly Love, showed a 3.4% gain, which took its population to 1.58 million.

The state had just a 0.15% growth in eight years, making it fifth-largest in the nation with 12.8 million residents. It recently regained the number five spot from Illinois, which has been losing population steadily since 2010 because of rampant corruption and significant fiscal issues. Pennsylvania now has about 55,600 more people than Illinois.

Until 1950, Pennsylvania was the second-largest state next only to New York, but then there was the great migration to warmer climates. First, California overtook the Keystone State in 1950, then Texas did it in 1980, and, finally, Florida in 1990. New York is now in fourth place.

California remains far and away the largest state in the nation and showed a population growth of 0.6% during the eight-year stretch. Wyoming is the least-populated state and showed a 1% loss.

Of the 50 states, 42 showed population gains, while just eight had losses. The fastest growing is Idaho which posted a 2.2% gain. Texas was up 1.4%, Florida 1.6%, and New York just 0.07%.

Of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania, only 19 showed population gains, while the other 48 had losses. The steepest loss was in the state’s most sparsely populated county — Cameron — down 9.5% to 4,592, smaller than the boroughs of Lehighton and Palmerton.

Despite Pennsylvania’s small gain, it is predicted to lose one seat in the U.S. House of Representatives after the official decennial census is completed in 2020.

That will decrease the state delegation from 20 to 19 — 17 House members and two U.S. senators.

House membership is based on population, while every state gets two U.S. senators, regardless of size.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com