2016 Census County Estimates

[muon2]

Something I whipped up.

The decline of the Midwest in a nutshell.  It's kinda sad.

Actually it highlights areas in the Midwest that are thriving with both central and surrounding county growth: Twin Cities, Des Moines, Indy, Columbus, Grand Rapids. IL is declining in population overall and lacks any of those strong growth centers.

[muon2]

a Des Moines-centric CD could be in the cards post-2022 methinks.

IA-03 already has the core counties in the Des Moines MSA. It's only really lacking Story county which is technically the Ames MSA. They only appear together at the CSA level.

[muon2]

a Des Moines-centric CD could be in the cards post-2022 methinks.

IA-03 already has the core counties in the Des Moines MSA. It's only really lacking Story county which is technically the Ames MSA. They only appear together at the CSA level.

So what about IA-03 gaining Ames and lose areas of SW IA?

In IA it won't depend on the urban areas. It will depend entirely on what creates the most compact overall plan for all 4 CDs with minimum population variance using whole counties. If that means separating Polk county from any of its neighbors they will. If it means lumping them together, they'll do that instead.