Florida will gain two congressional seats and become an even more coveted presidential prize with two additional electoral votes as a result of new census data released today.

Florida, which has 25 U.S. House seats now, will have 27 beginning with the 2012 elections. The perennially up-for-grabs Sunshine State will have 29 electoral votes in the 2012 presidential election, up from 27 in 2008.

The 2010 census pegs the U.S. population at 308,745,538 — up 9.7 percent from 2000. Florida’s population is 18,801,310 — a 17.6 percent increase over 2000.

Florida remains the fourth most populous state in the U.S. — trailing California (37.3 million), Texas (25.1 million) and New York (19.4 million).

Florida and New York will both have 27 U.S. House seats. Only California (53) and Texas (36) will have more.

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The U.S. Census Bureau will release state-by-state population figures later this morning and reveal how many U.S. House seats each state will have beginning in 2012.

Florida, which has 25 House seats now, is expected to gain at least one and possibly two seats. That means the perennially up-for-grabs Sunshine State will also add one or two electoral votes for the 2012, 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

Another big question: Will Florida overtake New York to become the nation’s third most populous state (after California and Texas)?

The figures are to be released at 11 a.m.

In the meantime, population buffs can check out the Census Bureau’s interactive map showing population and apportionment data from the 1910 through 2000 censuses. Note that Florida had fewer than 1 million people as recently as 1920 and only four congressional seats at the time. By the 2000 census, Florida’s population was nearly 16 million and it had 25 House seats and 27 electoral votes.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that illegal immigrants should not count in the census, a position that would cost the state federal money and one that puts him at odds with Gov. Charlie Crist — his primary opponent — as well as the Republican-controlled legislature.

Rubio’s spokesman told the paper that his position was based on “rightful representation in Congress and ensuring that every voter has an equal voice.”

Today, Crist, trailing Rubio in recent polls, called the former state House speaker’s position “absurd.”

“Florida deserves to have her fair share. And I think making sure that we count every single Floridian is vitally important. That’s why I went to the school yesterday in North Miami,” Crist said.

“It is important. It’s important to our state, it’s important to our people. And the notion that you would not want to accept federal funding to make a political statement is absurd.”