Following the decennial Census, political districts, such as U.S. Congressional Districts and state legislative districts, are reapportioned to states and counties on the basis of population and their boundaries are redrawn in a process called redistricting. Broadly speaking, the goal of redistricting is to make each district as close in population size in possible. While North Carolina’s population growth continues to outpace the nation, this growth is concentrated in the state’s urban areas. Nearly half of the state’s population growth since 2010 has occurred in two counties—Wake and Mecklenburg. Over this same time period, 49 of the state’s 100 counties have lost population. Today’s post explores the implications of these population shifts on the state’s legislative districts.

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May 21, 2015 update: The original post defined compliance for U.S. Congressional Districts as within +/-1%. Although the courts require adherence to equal population as much as possible, the maximum potentially accepted deviation cited elsewhere is a total spread of 1%, meaning +/- 0.5%. Following the decennial Census, political districts, such as U.S. Congressional districts and state legislative districts, are redrawn in a process called redistricting. The goal is to make each district as close…

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