The latest population numbers are out from the US Census showing in much greater detail what kinds of gains and losses are being seen inside New York state.<\/p>\n
It’s fascinating stuff, and the data I’m referencing here comes from two maps, one produced by the New York State Association of Counties<\/a> and the other (much more interactive) by the New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here are some compelling take-aways:<\/p>\n First, Hamilton County continues its dangerous slide in population, losing 10% of its year-round residents over the last decade.\u00a0 The entire county has just 4,836 people.<\/p>\n (It’s important to note that Hamilton County never had very many people; so losing 10% of the population means losing a few hundred people.\u00a0 Significant locally, but a blip when measured against New York’s 19.3 million people.)<\/p>\n A second and perhaps more surprising reality is that much of the North Country region is holding its own, or even growing slightly, in population.<\/p>\n Clinton County grew by 2.8%, faster than the state of New York as a whole.\u00a0 Warren County was up 3.8%.<\/p>\n Compared with Western New York which saw widespread losses, our region looks fairly steady.<\/p>\n Essex County — which like Hamilton is a county contained entirely within the Adirondack Park — grew at 1.3%.<\/p>\n Some other fascinating bits of micro-data:<\/p>\n In Franklin County, the population of Native Americans grew by 20% as the Mohawk Reservation community continues to expand.\u00a0 Native Americans now make up 7% of the county’s total population.<\/p>\n Jefferson County continues to boom, largely because of Fort Drum, and now boasts a population of 116,229.<\/p>\n It’s also our most ethnically diverse county, with just 86% of the community white.\u00a0 (Again, that looks a little different in context.\u00a0 In New York state as a whole only 58% of the community is white.)<\/p>\n Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a statement about these numbers,suggesting that they show a need to follow his lead politically:<\/p>\n “The Census figures released today offer stark evidence of the lack of growth in certain regions as well as ongoing stagnation.<\/p>\n “We must correct the trajectory of the state by changing the financial and operational paradigm of our government.<\/p>\n My budget and the agenda I have put forward charts that new course and it is important, now more than ever, that we follow through on it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So take a few minutes to navigate these maps and then give your own read.\u00a0 Do these numbers show the North Country receiving a passing grade?\u00a0 Comments welcome below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The latest population numbers are out from the US Census showing in much greater detail […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[4876],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3974"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3974\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}