The numerical population increase differed enormously between the 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico between 2000 and 2013. It went from Texas adding close to 6 more millions all the way down to Michigan actually losing 43,000 inhabitants. And Puerto Rico even worse, with a population loss of 193,000. What implications do these changes have for the future of US demographics, politics, changes in the electoral college and so on? Let's explore this a little bit.
So here is the entire list of the 50 states + D.C & Puerto Rico listed after their numerical increase in population between 2000 & 2013:
Texas: 5,596,000
California: 4,461,000
Florida: 3,570,000
Georgia: 1,806,000
North Carolina: 1,799,000
Arizona: 1,496,000
Virginia: 1,182,000
Washington: 1,078,000
Colorado: 967,000
Tennessee: 807,000
Nevada: 792,000
South Carolina: 763,000
New York: 675,000
Utah: 668,000
Maryland: 632,000
New Jersey: 585,000
Oregon: 509,000
Minnesota: 501,000
Pennsylvania: 493,000
Indiana: 490,000
Illinois: 463,000
Missouri: 449,000
Oklahoma: 400,000
Alabama: 387,000
Wisconsin: 379,000
Kentucky: 354,000
Massachusetts: 344,000
Idaho: 318,000
Arkansas: 286,000
New Mexico: 266,000
Ohio: 218,000
Kansas: 206,000
Hawaii: 193,000
Connecticut: 191,000
Iowa: 164,000
Nebraska: 157,000
Louisiana: 156,000
Mississippi: 147,000
Delaware: 142,000
Montana: 113,000
Alaska: 108,000
South Dakota: 90,000
Wyoming: 89,000
New Hampshire: 88,000
North Dakota: 81,000
Washington D.C.: 74,000
Maine: 53,000
West Virginia: 46,000
Vermont: 18,000
Rhode Island: 3,000
Michigan: -43,000
(Puerto Rico: -194,000)
As we can see, 12 states clearly stand out on the top. These states all had a stronger numerical increase than even New York, the 3rd most populous state both in 2000 as well as in 2013 (though probably not right now). Its kind of slightly shocking that states like Tennessee and South Carolina actually had a larger numerical population increase than New York and New Jersey right? Well, welcome to the future, which is a shocking place indeed.
If we place these 12 states on a map - all adding between 763,000 and 5.6 million inhabitants each - it will look like this:
These 12 states alone added an amazing 24.5 million more inhabitants during these 13 years. Together these 12 states currently incorporate 224 EVs, not that far from an absolute majority. In the future however, expect a lot more electoral votes to come their way! Extensive campaign focus on these states would be worth gold for decades to come.
Now lets add the second tire of states which all added between 266,000 & 675,000 more inbitants:
This second tire of states make up a total of 18 states, about one third of the states. Going from New York and Utah (another very fast-growing state) to New Mexico. Two really big states, Ohio and Michigan, weren't added this time around either, obviously spelling very bad news for them as they approach their own destiny. The first and second tire together make up 30 states for a total of 421 current EVs. No presidential candidate would really need to win any state beyond these in the future, if he plays his cards wisely and his strategy game even more astutely.
What's left out are now 7 mountain states, 5 New England states, 3 states in the Rust Belt, two Deep South states and finally the "newly acquired" states of Alaska and Hawaii. Plus Delaware. For a total of 20 states. These 20 states make up only 117 EVs. Let's take a look at the third tire of states and how they look like on a map:
You guessed it rightly. There are more tires than these three in fact. The third tire is comprised of 15 states + D.C. The population increase over these 13 years in these states was between 74,000 and 218,000, and barely includes the rapid-growing North Dakota. In fact the whole mountain region (+Alaska & Hawaii) is pretty much rapid-growing. These 15 states + D.C. make up 85 EVs.
The fourth tire includes only four states and they barely saw population increase at all - all adding 53,000 or less in fact:
Again, you got that right. I also added the fifth tire to the map, made up of the sole and lone state of Michigan, the only state to see its population decrease between 2000 and 2013, almost entirely due to the collapse of the city of Detroit.
Hope you learned something from these maps and stats, or got some new perspectives or eye-opening revelations.
If not, I hope you had fun reading it at least.
