Tag Archives: demographics

Getting Ahead of the Aging Curve

Preparing for Demographic Change in Rural America Reprinted from the Small Town & Rural Planning newsletter, Fall 2016. The other night, Planning Commission was looking at demographics in our rural county of about 12,000, with a touch of skepticism.  Archuleta … Continue reading

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Rural America is Growing—Except Where It Isn’t

The Bakken is booming.  New US Census Bureau population estimates indicate that 7 out of the dozen fastest growing counties in the United States over the last four years are in the Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana.  Yes, … Continue reading

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Liberals Want Walkable, Conservatives Require More Room, And Other Ways the Glass is Half-Full

Half of all Americans prefer to live in a community where the houses are smaller and closer together, but schools, stores, and restaurants are within walking distance. The same recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that the other … Continue reading

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Gen X: Stuck in the Middle with Me

Pew Research Center posted an interesting look at my fellow travelers in “Generation X”.  We’re the 34-49 year-olds sandwiched between the younger Boomers and older Millenials, both oversized and over-covered in the media.  We are, they point out, the middle child … Continue reading

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Placemaking, not Bailouts, Key to Millenials and Boomers Alike

Last month, in conjunction with the National Planning Conference in Atlanta, the American Planning Association (APA) released results of a new poll.  It found interesting similarities of opinion between both young adults (my kids) and younger/potential retirees (my folks). National … Continue reading

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Mapping the Census Flow

Americans are on the move.  About 20,000 more people moved from Los Angeles County, California, to nearby San Bernardino County, than in the opposite direction in 2007-2011.  The US Census Bureau has released new migration statistics based on their American Community … Continue reading

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The Numbers Don’t Lie: Inside America’s Economic Machine

[Source: U.S. Census Bureau] . From the US Census Bureau, in advance of the 2012 Economic Census: How Do We Know? Inside America’s Economic Machine The United States has the world’s largest economy, with a gross domestic product of $15 … Continue reading

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Leading the Aging Wave

I got to visit my friends at Kiwanis today and talk about Census 2010 results.  Locally, our county seat town grew slightly from 2000, while our county contracted slightly as did the regional overall.  The Micropolitan centers of Worthington and … Continue reading

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Not Too Many, But Too Few

Joel Kotkin got it right. The Economist last week reported on increasing concern with the impending demographic disaster of China’s One-Child policy.  While their 2010 census counted 1.34 billion people, the survey also reveals a “steep decline” in average annual … Continue reading

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Kotkin and Florida: Two Sides of the Same Prosperity

How are we ever supposed to improve our economic situation if we can’t even agree on what the problems are?  Here we are, a good two-three years through the Greatest Recession/Depression/Indigestion since the 1930s and we’re still arguing about who … Continue reading

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