Highlights from 2020 US census data release

Despite a four-month delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Census Bureau released a trove of demographic data Thursday showing how the U.S. changed over the past decade.

The data will shape how $1.5 trillion in federal spending is distributed to each state and local area, and will also be used by state demographers to redraw political maps across an increasingly diverse country ahead of the 2022 Midterm elections.

A U.S. headcount has been carried out every decade since 1790, and this was the first one in which the non-Hispanic white population nationwide got smaller, shrinking from 196 million in 2010 to 191 million in 2020.

"The white population is still the largest racial and ethnic group in the US, but its share of the overall population is declining," said Associated Press reporter Michael Schneider.

"A large reason for that in the past it was immigration and that still played a role over the past decade," Schneider added. "But... a bigger role was the fact that white women's birth rates have declined."

Almost all of the growth of the past 10 years happened in metropolitan areas, according to the latest Census Bureau data.

More people in smaller counties moved to larger counties. Around 80% of metropolitan areas saw population gains, while less than half of the smaller towns, or so-called micropolitan areas, saw more people move in.

"You are seeing the growth in these urban areas, especially in the Sunbelt," Schneider said. "We're talking about cities like Houston and Dallas, Fort Worth."

Among all U.S. metro areas, the fastest-growing one was in The Villages, the Florida retirement community built on former cow pastures.

"The growth has been a phenomenon and it's attracting retirees from all over the country. And it's been dubbed Disney World for seniors," Schneider said.

Other fast-growing areas in the U.S. were fueled by the energy boom, particularly in North Dakota, where McKenzie County was the country's fastest-growing county.

Its population increased by 131% from 2010 to 2020. Nearby Williams County, North Dakota, grew by 83%.