Release the data!
State by state, the U.S. Census Bureau is releasing population totals from the 2010 Census. As of Feb. 3, officials in Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia had received their data, which, among other things, show the effects of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. Eventually, the data will be applied to redrawing voting districts and determining grant eligibility. Here are some of the results:
29.1% was the population decrease in New Orleans since 2000.
17.7% was the combined population decrease in Biloxi and Gulfport, Miss., two cities hard struck by Katrina.
11.6% was the population growth in Chesapeake, Va.
3.7% was the growth rate in Elizabeth, N.J., the fourth largest city in that state with a 2010 population of 124,969.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, www.census.gov, Feb. 4, 2011.