Where Nobody Lives

Via the Atlantic:

"There are plenty of visualizations based on population data, but nothing quite like what designer Nik Freeman has created: a map of where no one lives. Using data from the 2010 U.S. census, Freeman shades green the nearly 5 million census blocks with zero population. The resulting map highlights the 47 percent of the U.S. that remains unoccupied."

Most of the uninhabited areas are mountainous regions, deserts, and national parks.

Bars Per Capita By State

North Dakota is the "booziest" state according to an analysis of 2010 census data. New Hampshire ranks last and New York ranks 19th. An interactive map at the bottom of this article also includes a ranking of liquor stores per capita.

LGBT Couples Are More Mixed

More number crunching from the 2010 census.

U.S. Census Rejects NYC Challenge

The U.S. Census has rejected Mayor Bloomberg's challenge of the 2010 population count.

The Bloomberg administration said that the bureau’s 2010 count overlooked people in Astoria and Jackson Heights in Queens and Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst in Brooklyn. In 2010, the Census Bureau said the city population had increased by 166,855 to 8,175,133 over the past decade. City officials argued the real count was closer to 8.4 million. City officials blamed the rejection on technical problems with the complicated federal appeals process. “It is unfortunate no mechanism exists to rectify the errors we identified,” the city’s Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden said in a statement. City demographers said overcrowded schools, busy stores and illegally converted apartments were all proof the bureau missed thousands of residents.

The lower count means the city loses millions in federal funding and two of its 29 seats in the U.S. House.

Census Data On NY's Same-Sex Couples

(Source)

House Seat Apportionments

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Fastest Growing Big Cities

The U.S. Census has ranked the fastest growing cities whose metro populations exceed one million. My exploding hometown of Orlando ranks at sixth fastest-growing with 2.1M residents. When my family moved there in 1971, the population was around 60,000. The day after we arrived, Walt Disney World opened.

8,175,135 Stories In The Naked City

New York City officials are apoplectic about just-released 2010 census data which turned up a quarter-million fewer residents than expected. The new figures will mean many millions less in federal funding for everything from schools to social programs to anti-terrorism measures.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg immediately challenged the bureau’s finding, saying it shortchanged the city by as many as 225,000 people. He said it was “inconceivable” that Queens grew by only 1,343 people since 2000 and suggested that the profusion of apartments listed as vacant in places like Flushing and in a swath of southwest Brooklyn meant the census missed many hard-to-count immigrants. City demographers offered a number of explanations for the low figure, ranging from the possibility that the 2000 census had overestimated the population to the likelihood that many tenants, especially immigrants, living in overcrowded and illegally divided apartments and basement cubicles were overlooked even after aggressive efforts by census takers, civic groups and city officials to find them.

Immigration activists point out that many of the undocumented didn't want to be counted and may have purposely evaded census workers. Some other interesting NYC demographic tidbits revealed by the census:

- The Asian population now exceeds one million, a 34% increase over ten years to 13% of the population. The biggest increase was seen in Brooklyn, which in 2010 had 41% more Asians than in 2000.
- For the first time since the Civil War, the city's black population declined during the census period. Non-Hispanic blacks presently make up 23% of the city.
- Hispanics now comprise 29% of the city's population.
- Since 2000 the Bronx lost 22% of its white residents, who now make up just over 10% of the borough.
- 42% of all state residents live within the five boroughs.
- If the boroughs' populations were ranked nationally as stand-alone cities, Brooklyn and Queens would be the third and fourth largest behind Los Angeles and Chicago. Manhattan would be sixth largest, behind Houston. The Bronx would be ninth, after Phoenix.

Cool Census Widget

The U.S. Census has published a cool widget tracking population changes state-by-state for the last 100 years. Hours of wonky fun if you're a statistics geek.

Census Result: New York Likely To Lose Two U.S. House Seats, Florida Gains Two

One of most important aspects of the U.S. Census is the resulting reapportionment of seats in the House of Representatives. While many of the changes will go as expected, a just-released new estimate suggests a couple of changes that were not.

A new estimate of House reapportionment gains and losses resulting from this year’s Census reveals a larger-than-expected impact on Florida and New York. According to Washington-based Election Data Services, which reviewed new Census data from a private-sector demographic firm, Florida would gain two House seats and New York would lose two seats. They would join two other states that already were projected to have multiple-seat changes.

Based on the tentative Census data, Texas is expected to gain four House seats and Ohio likely will lose two seats. According to the EDS estimate, six other states each would gain one seat: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington. Eight states would each lose one seat: Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. In addition to the Florida and New York changes, the other major switch in the projected reapportionment is that Missouri will lose a House seat instead of Minnesota.

The formal Census report will be issued in December. Reapportioning becomes effective with the 2012 elections.

PhoboQuotable - Tony Perkins

"The law should count for something when the Census Bureau counts America's population, but apparently it doesn't on President Obama's watch. The President's Commerce Department is actively encouraging people to ignore U.S. marriage law and invent new definitions for their relationships. What kind of government actively lobbies citizens to lie on their forms?

"When it comes to advancing the extreme homosexual agenda, this White House has no limits, not even the facts. The Defense of Marriage Act forbids the federal government from recognizing same-sex relationships as 'marriages.' If this video were honest, it would state, 'If you are a same-sex couple, you should mark the box that says 'unmarried partner,' even if you are legally married according to the laws of the state in which you reside.'" - Family Research Council head Tony Perkins, complaining about yesterday's release of official Census Bureau videos urging LGBT Americans to identify themselves on census forms.

VIDEO: Here's another of the seven clips, this one is from the HRC's Harry Knox, who directs their Religion & Faith program.

An Official Message From The Census

Officials from the 2010 U.S. Census staged a press conference at the NYC LGBT Center yesterday to announce the launch of a series of ad clips aimed at the LGBT community. I'll be running those clips over the next week. Here's the first, from Mara Keisling of the National Center for Transgender Equality.

GOP Panics Over Low Census Return, Sends In Karl Rove To Help

Teabaggers like Rep. Michele "Crazy Eyes" Bachmann have been screaming that filling out the U.S. Census will get you rounded up and micro-chipped, leading to a genuine GOP panic that a serious undercount in conservative districts will lead to a loss of legislative seats. In some red state districts fewer than 10% of the forms have been returned so far. Karl Rove to the rescue.

Michele Bachmann: The Census Will Be Used To Round Up Americans

Anti-Gay Group Threatens To Sue Feds Over Gay Marriage Census Count

The U.S. Census says that if you list yourselves as gay married, they'll tabulate that data "with no questions asked." Which is blowing the minds of the Save California, who is calling for a lawsuit against the federal government.

Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, said counting LGBT couples as married is violating the federal Defense of Marriage Act. "Marriage is only for a man and woman. That's the law they need to follow. This needs to be a lawsuit. Somebody needs to sue the federal government to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act," Thomasson said. The U.S. Census Bureau said the count is a snap shot of the country through self identification. "It's your opportunity to tell us who you are," said D'Anne Ousley, spokesperson for the U.S. Census Bureau. "Same sex marriage is legal in some states. So we will be reporting the results of same sex marriage as well as unmarried partners."

Several anti-gay groups have claimed that the gay census count is a defacto attempt to overturn DOMA. If only. And like that's a bad thing.

"Confederate Southern Americans" Want Official U.S. Census Recognition

You can't make it up. Proud Southern descendants of the fight to preserve slavery (among other things) want their own "Confederate nationality" recognized on the census.

Are you tired of Anti-Southern discrimination and bigotry directed at Southern people? Are you tired of being called a racist simply because you are proud of the Confederate Battle flag - the symbol of your ancestry and heritage? The Southern Legal Resource Center (SLRC) is asking Southerners to stand up and be counted as "Confederate Southern Americans" on the 2010 US Census. Question #9 on the Census form asks for information on "Race,." The SLRC suggests you check "Other Race" and in the space below write "Confed Southern Am." This will tell the Census that your families National Origin was the Confederate States of America, for four years a nation independent of the United States. Your spouse, may also so declare even if born outside the South. Those sympathetic to the Confederate Southern American Community may also so declare.

Their website has Dixie on auto-play. 'Nuff said.

George Takei & Brad Altman: If You Consider Yourself Married, Tell The Census

Queer The Census

Visit Our Families Count for information on why it's so important that LGBT Americans take part in the 2010 U.S. Census. Queer The Census has more.

Gerrymandering The States

Via the Atlantic, here's what the states might look like were their borders redrawn every ten years to reflect population changes, as is done with congressional districts. The Electoral Reform Map:

Rather than replacing a time honored system that, after all, has only broken down three times in over 200 years, the organization of the states should be altered. In 2000, the Census Bureau determined the United States population to be 281,421,906, distributed in 50 states and one federal district. The states ranged in population from to 493,782 (1) to 33,871,648 (2). This Electoral Reform Map redivides the territory of the United States into 50 bodies of equal size - 281,421,906 divided by 50 is 5,616,997. This map shows one possible way to redraw the fifty states (3). The map was laid out with no political orientation or wealth. As a result, states may be favor one or the other parties. A map redrawn to be result in states that, politically, individually reflect the entire nation would be interesting to see. A map that divided that states evenly according to wealth would also be interesting.

Embiggen the map for the new names of some states.

The Commubamanist Census Plot