Census data reveals population decrease in Holyoke, Granby while South Hadley increases

Date: 8/30/2021

WESTERN MASS. – Area legislators say the information provided by the 2020 Census largely met expectations.

While initially delayed, the U.S. Census Bureau released population data that will be vital to redistricting that could take place for local as well as Congressional districts.

Overall during the past 10 years, Massachusetts experienced a 482,288-person increase in population, representing 7.4 percent jump to just over 7 million residents.

Rep. Patricia Duffy spoke to the census date for the city of Holyoke, which had a reported decrease of about 4.1 percent. Duffy, however, said she didn’t feel as though the population had dropped that drastically and the reported decrease was likely a result of undercounting. “I think Holyoke always gets undercounted, and this is despite the fact that OneHolyokeCDC, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, a lot of groups –  the schools helped, hospitals helped. People really pitched in at the end,” she said.

She emphasized that city residents “could have been much more undercounted,” but the population of the city was not that far off from what it was the last time the census was conducted. “Ten years ago we came up just under 40,000 [people], I feel like we’re at least 40,000. We probably have lost some people, but there’s reason to believe we may have been undercounted,” she said. “Holyoke is hard to count, I commend those groups that really got out there, especially in a pandemic.”

Duffy said she believes a large number of the city’s population that was undercounted is likely those whose first language is not English. “I think that’s true throughout the state. A lot of hard work was done, too. We have neighborhoods in Holyoke where folks have a lot less access to resources, [and] less access to really good information,” she said.

She went on to say she felt as though there were some other factors that could account for undercounting and unwarranted controversy regarding the census. She said, “I’m going to put a little bit of blame on the previous administration that pinned such controversy to the census that were proven to be untrue,” she said.

Duffy said decreased funding was always a concern, but felt confident in the delegation of Western Massachusetts officials. “We all band together, the legislature has a great Gateway Cities Caucus,” she said. “Every other gateway city did have a growth in population, so we’re banding together. We can definitely advocate for each other and always felt Holyoke was important to everyone in the caucus.”

She said the funding she was most concerned about potentially decreasing was federal funding from departments such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Additionally, she said Chapter 90 funding from the state was also a concern. However, she said she was not worried about Chapter 70 funding, which is based on public school population numbers, nor was Superintendent/Receiver Anthony Soto. “Since it’s based on the school population and there’s been an increase in Chapter 70 funding and supplemental federal funding coming through for the next couple of years. I spoke with Superintendent Soto, I know he’s actually feeling unusually better about funding for the next few years,” she said.

However, she said they would need to “keep advocating for the improved funding formula” to ensure that in the next 10 years funding or a lack of funding wouldn’t impact the city. Duffy went on to say that while a decrease in population wasn’t ideal, it was “coming at the best time” due to increased federal funding the city was seeing.

Ways in which she was working with city and state officials to attract and retain city residents, she said, included securing funding for Holyoke Community College’s manufacturing program, working with both the local and regional Chambers of Commerce and working with the regional tourism group “to promote Holyoke.”

Additionally, she said the city was hoping for the revival of the Victory Theater and had seen “incredible small manufacturing [businesses] in the city that people don’t realize it’s here.” She said, “It’s all about promoting our strengths.”

She continued, “I think we do have a lot of room to grow. The city – the bones are for a population of at least 60,000. I don’t know if we’ll get there, but there’s every reason why we should grow.”

According to State Rep. Dan Carey, the recent 2020 census numbers are mainly in line with what he expected when his district began collecting data for Easthampton, Granby, Hadley and South Hadley.

“The numbers were right about where the estimates were,” said Carey. “We worked with town officials and clerks throughout the district…we wanted people to know how important it is to respond. Everyone on the local level did an excellent job.”

Everyone in Carey’s district saw somewhat of a population increase over the last 10 years, except for Granby. Easthampton’s increased by 1 percent, while Hadley’s increased by 1.4 percent. South Hadley also witnessed a slight increase at 1.8 percent.

According to Carey, there are a couple of different reasons for why Granby had a slight decrease in population. Since the 2010 census, Westover Air Reserve Base bought a good number of houses on East Street, Sherwood Drive and Acrebrook Drive.

“I think it more so speaks to the growth in the surrounding communities,” said Carey, regarding Granby’s slight decline. “Easthampton has become a popular destination as more restaurants move into that city. I don’t think it’s anything detrimental about Granby, it’s just the natural ebb and flow.”

Carey said that the population increase in the other three towns were mainly due to more people moving into those areas. As these places are becoming more desirable, home prices are going up. With that in mind, Carey said that a focus over the next few years will be a greater emphasis on affordable housing.

“That’s always going to be a need, especially with these new numbers,” said Carey. “It’s something that we continue to work on.”

Additionally, Carey said that the population numbers now will not have a huge impact on redistricting, especially since the numbers stayed steady throughout the past 10 years. Since the entire state saw an increase in population though, Carey said that everyone’s districts will increase. Berkshire and Franklin Counties were the only ones who saw a population decrease, which means their land size must increase even more.

“Even though my district currently is right about where it needs to be, there could be shifts in other districts that affect this area,” said Carey. “That’s something the legislature is working on now and is going to continue to work on in the coming months.”

Carey said that redistricting will happen right before the November elections.