Oahu’s population tops 1 million in 2020, up 6.6% over 2010

HONOLULU (AP) - Oahu’s population increased by 6.6% over the past decade to top 1 million for the first time, according to 2020 census data released Thursday.

Honolulu County, which includes all of Oahu, had 1,016,508 people, the agency said.

Kauai had the fastest growth of any county in the state. The population of Kauai County, which encompasses Kauai and Niihau islands, jumped 9.3% to 73,298.

The Big Island was next. Hawaii County’s population hit 200,629, which was 8.4% more than in the 2010 census.

The slowest growth among the state’s four major counties was observed in Maui County, which covers Maui, Molokai and Lanai. It recorded 164,754 people, up 6.4% from the previous decade. The county also includes Kahoolawe, but that island doesn’t have any permanent residents.

Overall, the state’s population grew 7%, to nearly 1.5 million.

States will use Thursday’s data to outline districts for Congress and state legislatures.

The release of the redistricting data culled from the 2020 census is coming more than four months later than expected due to delays caused by the pandemic.

In response, the state Supreme Court set a Jan. 8 deadline for the the state Reapportionment Commission to publicly release its proposed legislative and congressional reapportionment plans. The court said the commission must file its final plans with the chief election officer no later than Feb. 27.

Hawaii’s congressional and state legislative districts are drawn by a nine-person commission. The majority and minority party leaders in the House and Senate each appoint two commissioners. Those eight then pick a ninth commissioner. If they can’t agree, the ninth member is appointed by the state Supreme Court. Districts cannot be drawn to “unduly favor a person or political faction.”

The redistricting data show where white, Asian, Black and Hispanic communities grew over the past decade. It also shows which areas have gotten older or younger and the number of people living in dorms, prisons and nursing homes. The numbers cover geographies as small as neighborhoods and as large as states. An earlier set of data, released in April, provided state population counts and showed the U.S. had 331 million residents last year, a 7.4% increase from 2010.

Hawaii has two seats in Congress. It didn’t gain or lose any as a result of the census.

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