New Census numbers released this week show Utah is on track to add one seat to its congressional delegation in 2030.
Between 2022 and 2023, Utah's population saw the 10th largest growth in real numbers, adding 36,498 people. That was also good for the 9th largest percentage increase at 1.1%.
Census numbers are used to determine how the 435 seats in the House of Representatives are divvied up among the states.
According to an analysis from the Brennan Center for Justice, if the current trend continues, Utah will likely add a 5th seat in the House of Representatives during the once-a-decade reapportionment in 2030.
Under current trends, Utah would be one of three western states expected to add seats in Congress. Idaho and Arizona are also projected to gain one seat. Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee would also gain seats.
Those gains would come at the expense of California, New York, Illinois and Pennsylvania, who are all projected to lose seats. California could lose four seats, which would be only the second time its representation has declined.
Utah had only one seat in Congress when it was admitted to the Union in 1896, but gained another in 1910. The state gained a third seat in 1980, then added a fourth in 2010 after narrowly missing out in 2000.
The state also came tantalizingly close to adding another seat during the last reapportionment cycle four years ago, when the Census showed Utah was the fastest-growing state between 2010 and 2020 with a population increase of 18.4%.
