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More Millennials Are Leaving the Nest to Form Their Own Households
From 2016 to 2021, nearly every state saw a spike in the number of young adults between the ages of 25 and 44 forming new households, a development with far-reaching implications for state populations, economic growth and infrastructure. For many millennials, the economic fallout of the Great Recession a decade and a half ago postponed […]
Wind Farms Deliver Economic Jolt to Rural Middle America
A wind power boom in the nation’s central corridor has been a financial windfall for some struggling rural areas. Coke County, Texas, which has a population of about 3,300, had the biggest increase in economic output of any county in the country between 2019 and 2021, according to a Stateline analysis of Bureau of Economic […]
Migrating Professionals Grow Black Middle Class in the South and West
Jan. 5—Erika Harrison, a Houston attorney who has lived in the area since she was 5, started her blog, Black Girls Who Brunch, “to showcase the vibrant food scene beyond the franchise restaurants.” But recently, the blog has grown into much more than that. In addition to providing restaurant recommendations, Harrison has become a connector […]
Tech Counties Boomed in Pandemic, New Data Shows
The pandemic was an economic boon for the nation’s tech centers last year, but the tide already has turned as consumers’ demand for remote work software, delivered food and streaming entertainment subsides. Tech-driven counties in California’s Silicon Valley and around Seattle, Washington, and Austin, Texas, boomed as the COVID-19 pandemic raged, according to a Stateline […]
More US Counties Lack a Clear Racial Majority (And People Are Getting Along Pretty Well)
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct the pronouns used by sociologist Kiara Wyndham-Douds. Some booming suburbs, many of them in the Sun Belt, are becoming as racially diverse as major coastal cities — and often with less racial conflict. Sixty-nine counties, mostly in the South and West, had clear racial majorities in […]
The Nation’s Vacant Homes Present an Opportunity — and a Problem
Read more Stateline coverage of how communities across the country are trying to create more affordable housing. With construction costs for new homes and interest rates soaring, vacant housing is drawing more attention as a shortcut to quickly getting more units on the market. But whether vacant homes are a curse or an opportunity depends on where […]
Black Families Fall Further Behind on Homeownership
Some cities and states are trying to boost Black homeownership, which dropped to a 60-year low even before the economic turmoil wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. Black homeownership fell in 2019 to 40.6%, down from the 2004 peak of 49.7%. The rate has rebounded somewhat since then, but advocates remain dismayed at how, decades after the […]
Minus the Politics, Migrants Often Use Buses, Planes to Reach Shelter
Editor’s note: This story was updated to clarify the description of the Migration Policy Institute and its position on possible immigration policy changes. Despite some Republican governors using migrant buses to try to embarrass Democrats, transportation for migrants from border areas to places where they can find shelter may be an important part of handling […]
The US Has Reversed Pandemic Job Losses. Most Individual States Haven’t.
In July, the U.S. economy regained the 25 million jobs it had lost in the pandemic. But in 31 states and the District of Columbia, employment still lags pre-pandemic levels. New York state is down 327,800 jobs as of August, as remote work has battered shops and other businesses that once catered to commuters. The […]
More Housing Is Coming – But the National Shortage Will Persist
Read more Stateline coverage of how communities across the country are trying to create more affordable housing. Local officials across the country have approved more than a million construction permits for new single-family and multifamily housing this year. That’s up by nearly a third since 2019 and more than double the number from a decade ago, according […]
Census Bureau Finishes Some Local Count Challenges
The U.S Census Bureau has completed six of the 47 challenges by localities to 2020 counts so far this year, and some have been successful. Some cities small and large have complained that flawed counts have cut off funding based on population and challenges filed under the Count Question Resolution program, considered mapping mistakes that placed […]
GOP Governors Bus Migrants to Blue Cities, but Many Exit in Red States
Since April, thousands of migrants have arrived by bus in New York City and Washington, D.C., sent north by Republican governors in Texas and Arizona as a political gambit to blame Democrats for the migrants’ presence in the country. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey have spent millions of dollars transporting the […]