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Despite a slowdown overall in population change between 2010 and 2020 compared to 2000 - 2010, it looks like 18 states actually accelerated their absolute population growth the past decade compared to the preceding one. Here are the ones that accelerated their growth in absolute numbers (ranked in order by to what degree they accelerated):
1. Michigan (went from a decline of 55k in 2000 - 2010 to almost 200k gained in 2010 - 2020. An incredible turnaround for the state)
2. Rhode Island (1,073% the growth rate recorded in 2000 - 2010)
3. North Dakota (352%)
4. Massachusetts (245%)
5. New York (209%)
6. Louisiana (199%)
7. Ohio (149%)
8. New Jersey (133%)
9. South Dakota (124%)
10. Iowa (121%)
11. Washington (119%)
12. Nebraska (119%)
13. Montana (110%)
14. Minnesota (106%)
15. Vermont (105%)
16. Colorado (103%)
17. Oregon (100.2%)
18. Idaho (absolute growth was almost exactly the same in 2010 - 2020 as 2000 - 2010 at 100.1%)
Conversely these were the top 10 states where absolute growth slowed down the most:
1. West Virginia (went from growth to decline)
2. Mississippi (went from growth to decline)
3. Illinois (went from growth to decline)
4. Wyoming (only 20% of 2000 - 2010 absolute growth rate)
5. Connecticut (20% of 2000 - 2010 absolute growth rate)
6. New Mexico (25%)
7. Alaska (31%)
8. Arkansas (40%)
9. Missouri (44%)
10. Kansas (53%)
Thanks for sharing this!
What's interesting is that the story of the West hasn't changed this decade from the last much for the populated states. The media would make you think a tidal wave of people suddenly descended on Colorado and Idaho, but in reality, it's about the same as before and both states are below growth rates typical of the preceding 100 years. So, the rapid home price changes are partly supply shortages but also that people are building a lot bigger sqft homes than they used to. That is definitely the case for Colorado Springs, a lot of new home construction is $$$, but those houses are also huge.
In addition, the rural west seems to be bleeding growth, mirroring rural decline elsewhere; which is somewhat interesting because it shows that not that many people will disconnect from urbanity to get the mountain / outdoor experience, which in most cases, is better away from the bigger cities in the Rocky Mountain West.
Can we just remark on how badly some of the states were estimated? For Georgia alone, the estimate was nearly 800,000 higher than the 2020 count. That's an 80K annual overcount since 2010, more than the majority of states grew in total.
They were dead on with GA when it came to the estimates...infact GA is slightly underestimated from the estimates.
I find the comparison of the estimated with actual interesting. There were large overestimates in places like Texas, Florida and Arizona all of which have large hispanic populations. There was a lot of misinformation floating around that could have discouraged participation by some population groups. I wonder if that impacted some of the numbers. If so, this probably cost Texas an additional congressional seat.
Great job with this list, but how's VA and WV considered the NE?
I appreciated the data more than the classifications of states. I did chuckle at the sight of Nevada listed with the West COAST tho but like I said I did appreciate the effort and didn't wanna nitpick
Great job with this list, but how's VA and WV considered the NE?
That narrative has been pushed here on C-D for quite a while now. I'm sure if it could done without looking ridiculous, VA would be included in the Northeast while WV would remain in the South.
Despite a slowdown overall in population change between 2010 and 2020 compared to 2000 - 2010, it looks like 18 states actually accelerated their absolute population growth the past decade compared to the preceding one. Here are the ones that accelerated their growth in absolute numbers (ranked in order by to what degree they accelerated):
1. Michigan (went from a decline of 55k in 2000 - 2010 to almost 200k gained in 2010 - 2020. An incredible turnaround for the state)
2. Rhode Island (1,073% the growth rate recorded in 2000 - 2010)
3. North Dakota (352%)
4. Massachusetts (245%)
5. New York (209%)
6. Louisiana (199%)
7. Ohio (149%)
8. New Jersey (133%)
9. South Dakota (124%)
10. Iowa (121%)
11. Washington (119%)
12. Nebraska (119%)
13. Montana (110%)
14. Minnesota (106%)
15. Vermont (105%)
16. Colorado (103%)
17. Oregon (100.2%)
18. Idaho (absolute growth was almost exactly the same in 2010 - 2020 as 2000 - 2010 at 100.1%)
Conversely these were the top 10 states where absolute growth slowed down the most:
1. West Virginia (went from growth to decline)
2. Mississippi (went from growth to decline)
3. Illinois (went from growth to decline)
4. Wyoming (only 20% of 2000 - 2010 absolute growth rate)
5. Connecticut (20% of 2000 - 2010 absolute growth rate)
6. New Mexico (25%)
7. Alaska (31%)
8. Arkansas (40%)
9. Missouri (44%)
10. Kansas (53%)
A couple of notes here. North Dakota has slowed greatly in the past two years due the slowdown of the shale industry. Michigan indeed has rebounded, but mostly this is a comparison to earlier steep declines.
Illinois is in a world of hurt. The State has been poorly governed for decades. While Chicago is a gem, the loop can’t prop up the State. Alaska is also in trouble, they were in recession even before covid.
I think that this census shows that a lot of states that are considered “unpopular” are still gaining population or are stagnant while popular states are just so popular that they add enough population of gain more seats even if states that lost seats aren’t necessarily losing population.
I think the most interesting information released so far is Illinois. It shows that Illinois only lost 18,000 people, far less than the 250k estimated lost. Though it still doesn’t bode well, it really doesn’t seem like Illinois is hemorrhaging people.
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Chicago, or at least it’s metro area gained population and the majority of those loses are from rural areas.
It's all relative, though. There were two states other than Illinois that lost population--Mississippi and West Virginia. If that is the level that Illinois is at that's pretty awful. Like, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, New Mexico, and Alabama did better than Illinois. That is incredible stuff for the state with the nation's third largest metro area.
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but like I said I did appreciate the effort and didn't wanna nitpick
