Courtesy Public Domain Pictures
by James C. Sherlock
The Census Bureau yesterday released part of its 2022 population estimates.
It showed marked differences in the percentages of children and adolescents under 18 among the states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.
Adults in red states are raising more children on average than those in blue states. And it is not a close call.
I did not have a figure in mind, but the magnitude of the imbalance surprised me.
Eighteen of the 20 states with the most kids as a percentage of their populations vote Republican. Of the other two, #12 Georgia has split its gubernatorial and Senate votes between the two parties. #16 Minnesota votes blue.
#30 Virginia is slightly below the national average in percentage of minors.
The United States population is estimated at 333,287,557 of which 72,450,827 are under the age of 18. The rule of large numbers applies.
#21 California, with nine million more people than #2 Texas, has only a million more minors.
Utah has the highest percentage of minors, with 27.6% of its 3.4 million population under the age of 18, totaling nearly a million kids. Vermont has the lowest among the states, at 17.7%. Vermont’s population of 647,064 includes only 114,757 children.
Puerto Rico (17.7% and 52nd) and the District of Columbia (18.5% and 48th) were both notable laggards, as were Massachusetts (46th), Rhode Island (47th), New Hampshire (49th), Maine (50th) and Vermont (51st).
Virginia is 30th with 21.5% of our population of 8,683,619 under 18, just below the national average of 21.7%.
The Virginia estimate includes 1,866,910 under the age of 18. The age groups are not fully comparable, but for reference Virginia public schools enrolled 1,263,342 students this fall.
Even the famously large and aged population of red Florida sports a higher percentage of its total population under 18 than do five blue states and the District of Columbia.
There are social, political and economic implications, but I’ll leave it to readers to make their own assessments.
Update Dec. 23 at 12:20.
After decades of rapid population increase, Florida now is the nation’s fastest-growing state for the first time since 1957, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Vintage 2022 population estimates released today.
Florida’s population increased by 1.9% to 22,244,823 between 2021 and 2022, surpassing Idaho, the previous year’s fastest-growing state.
