The first release of 2010 Census data shows the United States population increased 9.7% in a decade to 308.745,538. The House of Representatives districts are based on Census data and the political maps are changed as a result of the new numbers.

The most populous state was California (37,253,956); the least populous, Wyoming (563,626). The state that gained the most numerically since the 2000 Census was Texas (up 4,293,741 to 25,145,561) and the state that gained the most as a percentage of its 2000 Census count was Nevada (up 35.1% to 2,700,551).

Regionally, the South and the West picked up the bulk of the population increase, 14,318,924 and 8,747,621, respectively. But the Northeast and the Midwest also grew: 1,722,862 and 2,534,225.

Additionally, Puerto Rico's resident population was 3,725,789, a 2.2 percent decrease over the number counted a decade earlier.

While Nevada grew 35.1% in population, Michigan declined 0.6%. This is the slowest population percentage growth since 1940.

The press is already calculating out the redistricting of the House of Representatives. Bloomberg has Texas gaining 4 House seats with Ohio and New York both losing 2 seats in the House of Representatives. California remains unchanged.

18 states lost or gained congressional districts. Texas, as expected, gained the most seats, moving from 32 to 36 seats. Florida was the only other state to gain multiple seats, adding two and bringing it to 27 seats.

Six other states gained a single seat: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington.

The biggest losers were New York and Ohio, which each lost two seats. Eight other states lost a single seat: Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

While the press is declaring the Republican party to be the big winner in the Census, the news is almost schizophrenic. The population growth is being attributed all to Hispanics, who voted 2 to 1 for Obama in 2008, yet victory is being declared for Republicans. Now either Hispanics are still in the minority in these areas....or perhaps they are not this monolithic voting block, all demanding open borders as is proclaimed in the press. The reporting is accurate, the states who gained seats are primarily red states.

Eight states will gain congressional districts, including five that backed Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president two years ago. The big winner was Texas, a state that routinely backs Republicans for president. Its population has swelled by about 21 percent since 2000 and as a result will add four House seats.

The gains come at the expense of some states whose growth has been stunted by the decline of manufacturing. Many of them have been historically Democratic; of the 10 states losing seats, eight backed President Obama in the 2008 presidential election. New York and Ohio took the biggest hits, losing two congressional seats each.

According to the Census, 74% of people mailed back the Census form and the Census came under budget, costing $1.87 billion less than expected.

The Census gives a little fun film explaining how the seats in the House are distributed, in case you were asleep in high school civics class.

The government tried to get hip and created an interactive map to embed and display, shown below. Problem is, none of the data from 2010 is in the thing! We're leaving it below in case someone at the Census realizes this cool interactive display is missing the 2010 data and updates it. You can at least look back through the decades on this tool right now.

We won't see detailed demographic data for some time to determine populations based on age and ethnicity from the 2010 Census data.