The first big numbers from the 2010 Census were just released. The grand total of 308,745,538 residents represents a growth rate of 9.7% is the slowest is 70 years. The Great Depression is believed to have lead to an anemic 7.3% growth rate in that decade.
Here are the fastest growing states (by percentage):
| State | Growth from 2000 |
|---|---|
| Nevada | 35.1% |
| Arizona | 24.6% |
| Utah | 23.8% |
| Idaho | 21.1% |
| Texas | 20.6% |
As expected, based on the most recent population estimates, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and Idaho and Texas had the largest percent change in population. North Carolina comes in as the sixth-fastest growing with 18.5%, pushing Georgia down to seventh. Georgia had been estimated as the fourth-fastest growing between 2000 and 2009. Texas, California, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina had the largest actual changes from 2000 to 2010. North Carolina is also a bit of a surprise here, edging out Arizona, which had the fifth greatest growth between 2000 and 2009. This might be the starting point of recession-related changes to the population and state-to-state migration and immigration.
These states added the most residents:
| State | Growth from 2000 |
|---|---|
| Texas | 4,293,741 |
| California | 3,382,308 |
| Florida | 2,818,932 |
| Georgia | 1,501,200 |
| North Carolina | 1,261,385 |
Michigan showed the only loss. No states were expected to lose residents but North Dakota, West Virginia, Louisiana, Rhode Island, and Michigan had less than 1% growth in the last decade compared to 9% nationwide.
Today's release has its biggest implications for Congress as it will determine the apportionment for the U.S. House of Representatives. But for marketers it confirms trends we have seen in the American Community Survey releases with warmer states in the South and West picking up residents from the North and East. The racial and ethnic breakdowns will start rolling out next year, giving us a detailed picture of the U.S. population by that tally.
Some other quick takeaways: New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maryland are the most dense states. All originally were colonies.
This is the first time that the Western region is more populous than the Midwest.
In 1910 the West region was 7.7% of population. Now it's 22.5%
The Northeast grew by 3.2%. The Midwest grew by 3.9%. The South grew by 14.3%. The West grew by 13.8.
The slowest growth occurred in New York (2.1%) Ohio (1.6%) Louisiana (1.4%) and Rhode Island (0.4%). Michigan, which grew 32% between 1920 and 1930, was the only state to lose population from 2000, dropping 0.6% of its population to 9.9 million.
To see more insights about Census 2010, download the Ad Age White Paper by Peter Francese.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Posted by Matt Carmichael on 12.20.10 @ 05:58 PM
Source: http://adage.com/adagestat/post?article_id=147782
http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/index.php
