Census Shows KC Population Loss

Census Shows KC Population Loss
By Echo Menges

The first details of Missouri’s 2010 Census counts were released Thursday, February 24, 2011 with basic population counts for the state as a whole and every individual county. The purpose of this release of 2010 Census information, at this particular time, is to aid in the redrawing of Missouri’s U.S. Congressional districts, state house and senate lines, and local government political boundaries.
The State of Missouri itself did see a seven percent increase in population from the 2000 Census, however, that growth rate is below the average growth rate for the rest of the country, which is a ten percent growth grate. The total population for the entire State of Missouri as of April 1, 2010 is 5,988,927, which is up 393,716 from the 2000 Census.
Although the state population has risen since the 2000 Census more than two dozen Missouri counties saw a decrease in population. Knox County is one of them. And five counties neighboring Knox County have also dropped in numbers. They are Clark, Lewis, Macon, Scotland, and Shelby Counties. In fact the highest concentration of Missouri counties who dropped in population since the 2000 Census is in the Northeast.
Knox County saw a 5.3 percent drop in population with a loss of 230 people living in the county. The information just released by the 2010 Census Bureau puts the total population for Knox County at 4,131. In 2000 Knox County had a population of 4,361.
It is unclear how the drop in population in and around the Northeast region of the state will affect us since lawmakers are just now beginning the process of redistricting in Missouri.