Monday, January 10, 2011

1 in 12 people in U.S. now live in Texas

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059843371291946.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

first quote from above article:

Today one out of 12 Americans lives in Texas—the same proportion that lived in New York City in 1930. Metropolitan Dallas and metropolitan Houston, with about six million people each, threaten to overtake our fourth largest metro area, San Francisco Bay (population about seven million), in the next decade.
In 1930 half of all Americans lived in New England, Megalopolis and the Foundry, and 40 years later 46% did. Now only one-third of Americans live in those three regions, the same proportion as live in the South Atlantic, Interior South and Texas.
Will those trends continue, or will the recession years around 2010 be seen as another flex point? It seems safe to say that the answer depends on public policy. As state and local governments cope with budget shortfalls and fiscal crises, they might do well to consider how their policies have reshaped America over the past 40 years. end quote.


next quote from same article:
And the West Coast? World War II brought GIs and defense workers to California and Washington, and afterwards many, attracted by the pleasant climate and open spaces, stayed and enticed others to follow. The population of the Pacific states including Oregon, Alaska and Hawaii tripled—up 208%—in 1930-70. But growth has since slowed. High taxes and slow-growth policies that raised housing prices are one reason. Latino immigrants have been streaming in but almost as many native-born have been moving out. The Pacific states grew 88% in 1970-2010, well above the national average, but far slower than in 1930-70 and slower than the South Atlantic states, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
Those five states' population doubled (up 102%) in 1930-70, but growth accelerated in 1970-2010. Black outmigration halted in the late 1960s and businesses were attracted by favorable public policies including right-to-work laws and low tax rates. The population of the South Atlantic states increased 114% in 1970-2010, and the 2010 Census shows that they've overtaken the five Pacific states in population, 50.7 million to 49.9 million. end quote.

Since I've never been to Texas yet and have lived in California most of my life after being born in Seattle, Washington, I found this all very interesting. I find many Californians have gone to Texas to seek employment and many have stayed during the last few years. But, since Texas is now in the same kind of situation as California, now that it has a 25 Billion dollar deficit it remains to be seen where all this is going in the future. In the sheer amount of people making over 250,000 dollars a year, California leads every state with about 750,000 or more. But New York and Texas are close behind, so the world (at least in the U.S) continues to change with each passing year.

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