Barone on Demographics

Few analysts have more fun with a set of Census numbers than Michael Barone, writing here for the Washington Examiner as reprinted by RealClearPolitics. He looks at the Census figures for population growth in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, finding unsurprisingly as follows:

Population growth has been accelerating in states that depend heavily on the private sector and declining in states with relatively high dependence on government. 

Which states are those with growth?

Growth rates have increased significantly in most of the Midwest and Rocky Mountain heartland. That has been especially true in the nation's growth leader this decade, North Dakota, with its Bakken shale boom.

Of course Texas is the biggest winner of them all, as Governor Rick Perry persists in bragging to all who will listen (clearly more should heed his mantra).

We need to be clear that Barone is talking about changes in growth rates, not necessarily in the absolute rates.So a big change to a low rate gets more ink than a small change in a big rate, as a careful reading of what he says about Maryland, Virginia and DC will show.