Some Census Facts

The U.S. Census Bureau reported some findings about the United States based on data from the 2010 census. Among the factoids:

Blacks are moving back to the South, moving to suburban areas, or both. Fewer blacks live in New York City and Chicago, and more of them are buying houses with picket fences in the expanding suburbs of Southern cities like Atlanta and Charlotte. While it's nice to see blacks gain access to the American dream, do they have to find it in the plastic-jive autocentric tract housing that has long been proven to discourage any sense of community?

The South and the West, meanwhile, accounted for 84.4 percent of the nation's population growth from 2000 to 2010, distributing more political clout to the rednecks and rodeo clowns that make America a laughing stock worldwide. Lord help us. (I believe I commented on this before.)

Hispanics grew faster than expected, now accounting for one out of every six Americans. No one knows what to make of this data, and for good reason: Hispanics are not a monolithic group. Some of them are white. A few of them are black. Some of them are of mixed race. Some of them vote Republican. Many of them vote Democratic. Not all of them are immigrants (Puerto Ricans, for example). Many of them don't even speak Spanish. In short, they're just as diverse as any other group.

Michigan was the only state to lose population in raw numbers. It's even become more rural, suggesting that Detroit could simply dry up and blow away like so many other ghost towns. You know how many celebrities from Michigan are on record as saying they couldn't wait to leave? (Jeff Daniels is in the minority here.) If you seek a pleasant peninsula, it seems, look elsewhere.

Queens in New York City grew by 1,300 people between 2000 and 2010. Yeah, right. Michael Bloomberg doesn't believe it either.