A study by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania projects the state’s population — now an estimated 12.9 million — to nudge over 13 million by 2030.

But the center’s projection, released in December, predicts that the state will lose population between 2040 and 2050, settling just shy of 13.2 million. The study also yields an estimate that Pennsylvania’s population will increase over the next 26 years, but more slowly than the United States as a whole.

That means Pennsylvania will continue to lose seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Following the 2020 census, the state dropped from 18 to 17 seats in the House, continuing a decline that began in 1930, when Pennsylvania dropped from 36 seats to 34.

The Center for Rural Pennsylvania Board of Directors will hold a public hearing beginning at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in the Lutheran Heritage Room of Thiel College’s Miller Student Center in Greenville to discuss the impacts of the study and its results, as well as how to change the possible outcomes.

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