Minnesotans can breathe a sigh of relief today. The U.S. Census Bureau announced its allocation of seats in the House of Representatives on Monday, based on population counted in the 2020 Census. Minnesota will retain its eight seats, getting the last available seat by edging out New York State.

There had been fears that Minnesota, which has been on the bubble for decades, might lose a seat. We narrowly avoided losing a seat in 2010, and narrowly avoided losing a seat this year.

State officials credit Minnesotans’ strong response to the 2020 Census for making the difference.

Minnesota has managed to maintain a population growth rate that is slightly better than the national rate, but nowhere near the rate of the high-growth states in the South and West.

The eight congressional seats are split evenly between Democrats and Republicans in Minnesota.

The Census Bureau information is not broken down farther to show county and city population changes. Once that information arrives, Minnesota legislators will begin the job of redistricting legislative and congressional districts, redrawing the boundaries to divide the population evenly for each district. They may begin the job, but it is almost certain that the task will be finished by the state courts.

Minnesota’s divided legislature will no doubt hit an impasse, and it will be up to a court-appointed redistricting panel to draw the new lines fairly.