For the edification of Bacon’s Rebellion readers, I’m presenting some data compiled by Jim Weigand, our Lynchburg correspondent, on birth rates in Virginia. The table above shows the 10 localities with the highest birth rates. The thing that stands out: they’re all cities.

What’s with the City of Fairfax, by the way? The birth rate in surrounding Fairfax County is only 11.59.

Here are the localities with the lowest birth rates:

With the exception of Manassas Park and Williamsburg, they’re all counties. Counties, of course, tend to have older populations and fewer women in their peak child-bearing years, so there are no great surprises here….

Other than Manassas Park. What’s the deal there? Only nine births? Is there something in the drinking water?

For those who obsess over the political implications of things, consider this: the high-birthrate localities tend to vote blue, low-birthrate localities vote red. What does it portend for partisan loyalties over the long run if blue localities are having more babies?

Conduct your own analysis. Download Weigand’s spreadsheet showing births by locality for the past five years. Examine trends over time! Correlate birth rates with average age! Correlate birth rates with voting patterns! (You’ll have to look up electoral data for those last two.) Have fun with statistics and share.

— JAB