Why It Matters
The Decennial Census is of extreme importance to our state's political representation and data-based decision making. When the first census was conducted in 1790, Pennsylvania’s total population was just under 435,000 persons. The Keystone State was second largest state behind Virginia in 1790 and accounted for 11.2% of the United States total population.
Fast forward 220 years to 2010 where Pennsylvania’s population had grown by nearly 30 times its count in 1790 to 12,702,379 persons. As of 2010, Pennsylvania constituted just over 4.0 percent of the nation’s total population and ranked sixth in the nation by population size.