Photo by Scott McCloskey A crowd packs Water Street July 23 during the Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival. U.S. Census Bureau figures released Thursday show continued population decline locally and around West Virginia.

CHARLESTON (AP) — West Virginia’s population declined 3.2% over the past decade, the most of any state, according to U.S. Census figures released Thursday, as lawmakers grapple with reshaping the state’s legislative and congressional districts.

The numbers show that West Virginia lost a higher percentage of its residents than any other U.S. state and was one of seven states to lose a congressional seat after the 2020 census. The population fell by 59,278 from 2010 to 2020, to 1.8 million.

The figures show 47 of the state’s 55 counties lost population. Exceptions were in the Eastern Panhandle and two northern counties associated with West Virginia University.

Ohio and Marshall counties were not immune to decline. Ohio County’s population fell by 2,018, from 44,443 in 2010 to 42,425, a drop of 4.5%. Marshall County fell by 2,516, from 33,107 in 2010 to 30,591 in 2020, a drop of 7.6%.

According to the latest data, the biggest jump in population occurred in Berkeley County, which gained 17,907 residents — a 17.2% increase. It is now the state’s second-largest county, with 122,706 people. Nearby Jefferson County’s population jumped 7.9%. The Eastern Panhandle has seen steady population growth this century due to an influx of commuters to Washington, D.C.

The state’s largest county, Kanawha, which includes the capital of Charleston, remains the most populous, despite a 6.4% drop to 180,745 residents.

Monongalia County, which includes WVU’s Morgantown campus, saw a 10% increase and overtook Cabell as the state’s third-most populous county, with 105,822 residents.

Preston County, east of Monongalia, saw a 2.1% increase, to 34,216 residents.

Putnam County, between Huntington and Charleston, saw the only other significant increase of 3.5%. The county now has 57,440 residents.

Besides people leaving the state, West Virginia’s population has seen changing demographics, with deaths outpacing births for the past two decades, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

Population losses were especially hard in counties where coal mines closed, including in the southern coalfields. McDowell County lost 13.6% of its residents in the past decade, dropping to a population of below 20,000 for the first time since 1900. After U.S. Steel sold the last of its mining operations in McDowell County in 2003, 23% of the population left because there was no other industry to rely on for jobs.

Pendleton County lost the highest percentage of its residents, 20.2%, followed by Ritchie County at 19.2% and Calhoun County at 18.3%. They now have populations of 6,143, 8,444 and 6,229, respectively.

Lawmakers must pare three U.S. House districts down to two — all three have sitting Republicans — as well as map out districts for 34 state Senate and 100 House of Delegates seats. Next year, the entire House will be elected from single-member districts for the first time under a law passed in 2018. Currently, more than half of the House is elected from multiple-member districts.

Ohio’s heavily Democratic state capital grew significantly over the past decade, as the state’s traditionally Republican rural and Appalachian regions lost residents, new census figures showed Thursday.

Figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau show Columbus gained almost 120,000 residents between 2010 and 2020, and Franklin County gained about 160,000, even as 33 of the state’s 88 counties lost population. Neighboring counties added tens of thousands more, including two — Union and Delaware — that grew by 20% or more over the decade.

Cincinnati added more than 12,000 residents, and its suburbs also grew, mirroring the trend nationally of the fastest growth occurring in the nation’s largest cities and their suburbs, while populations in many rural areas declined in the 2020 Census.

But not all Ohio cities grew. Cleveland saw a devastating loss of more than 24,000 residents, though its suburbs mostly held strong or grew. Toledo followed the same pattern, losing 16,000 residents even as two bordering counties saw strong growth. Akron, Youngstown, Canton and Dayton all lost population, as well.

Belmont and Jefferson counties both saw population drops in the last decade. Belmont County fell from 70,400 in 2010 to 66,497 in 2020. That’s a loss of 3,903 residents and a drop of 5.5%. Jefferson County fell from 69,709 in 2010 to 65,249 in 2020. That’s a loss of 4,460 residents and a drop of 6.4%.

Overall, Ohio’s population grew by a sluggish 2.3% since 2010, compared with the national growth of 7.4%. That lag had already cost the state a congressional district, taking the total from 16 to 15.