Towns grew, county shrunk in 2020 census

After a slight delay from the usual deadlines due to the pandemic, 2020 census numbers are out.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, three towns in Adair County have seen growth in the last decade, but the county has shrunk in population slightly, from 7,682 in 2010 to 7,496 in 2020, a 2.4% drop or a decline in 186 persons.

When looking at each town, according to information compiled by Iowa State University that uses the census results, Bridgewater (182 to 148) and Orient (408 to 368) each saw population loss, but Fontanelle (672 to 676), Adair (781 to 791) and Greenfield (1,982 to 2,062) each saw slight growth. Casey, which is along the Adair-Guthrie county line, saw a 9.2% drop in population (426 to 387), but Stuart grew (1,648 to 1,782) by 8.1% in the decade.

Adair County is one of 68 counties in the state that lost population from 2010 to 2020. Of the 31 counties that grew, Dallas County grew by 50.7%, or a hike from 66,135 in 2010 to 99,678 now, the most growth of any county.

Redistricting

What these numbers set off each decade is a process called redistricting, which figures at every level what a state or county’s representation will be in government.

Adair County Auditor Mandy Berg said a redistricting committee is being formed here in the county. Once the state goes through its redistricting process, counties and cities will be able to go through its redistricting process.

“It’s going to be a very fast turnaround,” Berg said. “Our precinct boundaries have to go into effect January 15. It will probably be in the September or October range before we can start our process, but at this time, we don’t even have a timeline. I feel we’re just in a wait and see and go with the flow [mode].”

At the state level, Senator Jake Chapman (R-Adel) says the Legislative Services Agency (LSA), a non-partisan group, will soon get together and form a map that legislators will eventually approve or disapprove for revisions in a special session, but he doesn’t know when that special session will be yet.

“Constitutionally, we are to have had redistricting done by September 1, but because of the delay with the U.S. Census Bureau, we’re clearly not going to meet that deadline. It’s our belief, based on what the Iowa Supreme Court put out in a statement earlier this year, that we’ll continue to follow Iowa Code and will send it back to the Iowa Legislature to do our constitutional duty,” Chapman said. “We’ll have a special session at some point in time — probably in the next couple of months — to review that first map. We’ll be able to have some conversation and know what that first map looks like in the next couple of months.”