Stories
Which States Will Grow the Most by 2050?
Nobody can pin a 2050 population number for any single state. So we do the honest thing: take today's growth rates, assume they roughly hold, and follow the line. The Sun Belt and Mountain West keep climbing while parts of the Northeast and Midwest keep sliding.
Why Is the Census Taken Every 10 Years?
The decade-long census cycle isn't tradition, it's a constitutional rule. Here's the apportionment reason behind it, the history, and why ten years is the interval where fairness and feasibility meet.
How the Rust Belt Lost Its Factory Jobs
American manufacturing employment peaked at around 19.5 million jobs in 1979 and fell by roughly a third over the next four decades. The Census record shows where those losses landed: a band of industrial cities from Buffalo to Gary that lost between a sixth and nearly half of their residents.
Before You Move to Phoenix: What the Census Data Says
Phoenix added more than 650,000 residents since 1990 and is closing in on 1.7 million, which makes it the fastest-growing large city in the country. Before you join them, the Census data has a few things to tell you about incomes, housing, and the heat that the brochures leave out.
The Most Affordable Mid-Size Cities to Buy a Home in 2026
In the most affordable mid-size city in the country, the typical home costs about 2.3 times the typical household income. In the most expensive metros that multiple runs past ten. Here are the real cities where a normal salary still buys a house, and what the Census data says about each one.
How Detroit Lost Half Its Population, and Why It Is Finally Growing Again
Detroit had more than a million residents in 1990 and 1.85 million at its 1950 peak. By 2024 it had fallen to 638,000, one of the steepest urban declines in American history. But the latest Census numbers show something that has not happened in 70 years: the population went up.
The Most Diverse Cities in America in 2026
The most racially diverse cities in the country are not the famous big ones. They are mid-sized suburbs and satellite cities near Seattle, San Francisco, and New York, where no single racial group comes close to a majority and the odds that two random residents share a background are almost a coin flip.
The Richest Counties in America in 2026
The wealthiest county in the country sits in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, where the median household earns more than $181,000 a year. The rest of the top of the list clusters in three places: the DC commuter belt, the San Francisco Bay Area, and a short list of outliers built around one big employer.
The Most Educated Cities in America
In the most educated residential city in the country, more than nine of every ten adults hold a bachelor's degree, roughly triple the national rate. The places where that is true form a tight pattern: wealthy suburbs of New York, Boston, Dallas, and the Bay Area, plus a few college towns where almost everyone is a student or a professor.
How Florida's Population Changed Since 1990
Florida has added more than 9.4 million residents since 1990, growing from 12.9 million to 22.4 million. It passed New York to become the third most populous state in 2014 and has not slowed down...
Which Cities Have Become Less Diverse Since 2000?
The United States as a whole has become steadily more diverse since 2000. But a handful of individual cities have moved in the opposite direction, becoming less diverse rather than more. The mechanism is almost always the same: gentrification...
Atlanta vs. Charlotte: The Southeast's Two Biggest Growth Stories
Atlanta and Charlotte are the two cities that defined the Southeast's rise as an economic region over the past 35 years. Both started the 1990s as mid-sized Southern cities with regional profiles and have grown into nationally significant metros with Fortune 500 headquarters, major financial sectors, and...
When Will Texas Surpass California in Population?
Most credible projections point to the same answer: Texas will surpass California as the most populous state in the United States around 2045 to 2050. The gap between the two states is large today, roughly 9 million people, but it has been closing steadily for two decades, and...
Where the Black Middle Class Is Growing in America
The Black middle class in America is growing, and it is growing in specific places. The story of where traces a clear pattern: a sustained migration toward Southern metros, a movement from cities into suburbs, and the emergence of a handful of regions that have become national centers of Black...
How the US Population Changed: A Timeline From 1790 to Today
The United States has been growing since before it was a country. The first official Census in 1790 counted 3,929,214 people, a number smaller than the current population of Los Angeles. Today the country has 340 million. The story of how that happened is not a straight line...
When Will Dallas-Fort Worth Surpass Chicago in Population?
The Dallas-Fort Worth metro is on track to pass Chicago as the third-largest metropolitan area in the United States, and most projections put the crossover in...
Who Gets the US Census?
The short answer is everyone. The US Census is designed to count every single person living in the United States - regardless of age, citizenship status, immigration status, race, or income. But the full answer involves some important distinctions about who counts where, which groups are historically undercounted, and a current political debate about whether that "everyone" rule should change for the 2030 Census...
What Will the US Population Be in 2050?
Population projections are educated guesses, and the Census Bureau is the first to say so. Every projection comes with a range of scenarios built around different assumptions about birth rates, death rates, and immigration levels, and the gap between the high and low scenarios in 2050 runs to...
What Is the Purpose of a Census?
The US Census exists because the Constitution requires it. Article I, Section 2 mandates an "actual Enumeration" of the population every ten years, and the original reason was simple: to divide political power fairly among the states. But the census has grown into something...
What Happens If You Don't Fill Out the Census?
Filling out the census is not optional, at least on paper. Federal law requires every US resident to participate in the decennial Census, and there are penalties on the books for refusal. But the practical reality of what actually happens if you don't respond is a lot more nuanced than the legal language suggests...
Which Race Is Increasing the Most in the United States?
The United States has been getting more racially and ethnically diverse with every Census count for decades. But not all groups are growing at the same pace, and the answer to which group is growing fastest depends on whether you measure by percentage growth rate or by raw numbers added. Both ways of looking at it tell an interesting story...