U.S. Census data released Thursday showed 44 out of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties saw a population decrease over the last decade, including three out of the five in the Times News coverage area.

Carbon County’s population decreased 0.8% from 65,249 people in 2010 to 64,749 in 2020, Schuylkill County’s population dropped 3.5% from 148,289 to 143,049, and Monroe County saw a 0.9% fall from 169,842 to 168,327.

“The real estate market here did take off and we, as a board of commissioners, did have some concerns that, because a lot of the census work was done during the pandemic, that the full influx from New Jersey and New York might not be reflected in the numbers,” Carbon County Commissioner Chris Lukasevich said. “I had a sense that we could have, maybe should have, seen a growth, but that wasn’t the case. We have not yet done a comparison with new home starts to get that sense of the correlation.”

In contrast, Lehigh and Northampton counties saw 7.2% and 5.1% bumps respectively. Lehigh, which had the third highest growth rate in the state, increased its population total from 349,497 to 374,557, while Northampton, with the sixth highest growth rate in the state, went from 297,735 to 312,951.

“People go where the jobs are, so that’s not much of a surprise in that sense,” Lukasevich said.

A full release of 2020 U.S. Census data is scheduled for Sept. 30. Lukasevich said the county plans to use that to drill down deeper on how individual communities faired.

“Maybe, for example, we did have a spike in Kidder and Penn Forest townships,” he said. “It’s difficult to understand the impact until we take that deeper look.”

Lukasevich, along with Kara Scott of Bowmanstown, worked hard during the census canvassing to get as many Carbon residents counted as possible. The census numbers go a long way to determining federal and state funding.

“There is a definite financial impact,” Lukasevich said. “Also very important is how this plays out in redistricting discussions and how the lines may be redrawn at the state level. One prime example is in Carbon County, where Doyle Heffley represents everything but Summit Hill. It would be nice to see Carbon have some uniformity again.”

All local counties saw a hike in Hispanic and Black population.

The Hispanic population increased 69.8% over the last decade in Carbon County from 2,145 to 3,642, 97.6% in Schuylkill County from 4,080 to 8,064, 28.1% in Monroe County from 22,288 to 28,558, 43% in Northampton County from 31,179 to 44,597 and 47.8% in Lehigh County from 65,614 to 96,981.

The Black population increased 23.8% in Carbon County from 976 to 1,208, 10.8% in Schuylkill County from 3,967 to 4,394, 11.4 % in Monroe County from 22,348 to 24,894, 28.7% in Lehigh County from 21,440 to 27,589 and 29.7% in Northampton County from 14,986 to 19,442.

Those numbers were reflected in increases in the USA Today diversity index, which shows on a scale of 0 to 100 how likely it is two people from an area would have a different race or ethnicity.

Carbon and Schuylkill counties both went from 13 to 24 on the index scale over the last 10 years, while Monroe County went from 48 to 62, Lehigh County went from 48 to 65, and Northampton County went from 34 to 50.

As a whole, Pennsylvania’s population eclipsed 13 million people, but it still stands to lose a Congressional seat as its population growth was among the slowest of the 50 states. The Keystone State’s 2.4% growth lagged behind that of the United States as a whole, which increased its population by 7.4%.

The loss of a Congressional vote means the loss of one vote in the Electoral College count for the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections.

The number of state Senate and state House districts will remain the same.