The U.S. Census Bureau has released its annual population figures for the 50 states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. The top 10 fastest growing states are all "red" states that espouse mostly conservative economic policies. The states at the bottom are mostly heavily Democratic areas where high taxes and hostile business climates abound.

Two states lost population (for the second year in a row): Michigan and Rhode Island.

Nobody should be surprised by this. Where there is economic freedom, there is growth. Where there is a heavy hand of government interference and over regulation, there is stagnation and decline.

Population Estimates Change

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I would guess it is because it is mostly states in the south and that is also where more immigrants tend to settle since it's closer to Mexico. That and much of the population on the west coast are moving east for lower costs of living.

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Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Hmm, are you sure that's the reason?

According to this list of states sorted by economic growth, the top of the list is pretty much dominated by Northern and Western States, with the exception of Virginia and Florida. A large bulk of the Southern states make up the bottom end of the list, with Louisiana actually losing growth.

StateMaster - Economic Growth (most recent) by state

This next list that shows amount of population below the poverty is dominated by Southern states:

StateMaster - Percent below poverty level (most recent) by state

For personal income, a lot of Northern state citizens make double that of their Southern counterparts:

StateMaster - Personal income (per capita) (most recent) by state

So, yea. I blame lower use of birth control...

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“Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.” -Dr. Carl Sagan

And when Baby Boomers retire and move to Red states for their mild climates, they will suddenly become conservative, or will they bring their political beliefs with them?

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“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address

Traditional or contemporary conservatives? Retirement increases demand for social services and I find it doubtful baby boomer retirees will be demanding more money to be spent on the military in foreign expeditions benefiting special interests than their social services requirements, which will include keeping the poor and disadvantaged pacified and at bay.

I dont see any reason to conclude population growth is affected by economic freedom. It's more a cultural thing.

What's pretty obvious is that population growth does cause economic growth (more people = bigger economy).

I live in R.I. we are losing residents due to the state founding creed...Rhogue Island...and that moniker is still held as all thier families are still large and in charge here. Hell we have a governer who forces indians to loose any rights to a casino and at the same time turns our state lottery into a paper casino after lobbying the citizens against gambling, leaves our state to visit Iraq while the worst snowstorm in years bears down on us, without a plan or person capable here of sending snow plows out leaving school children stranded on buses for 10 hours and then refusing to take any responsibility for the blame. I still can't figure out what good his visit to Iraq was going to do any of us beside finance another bullshit trip. We are losing our residents to coruption and to tell you the truth if i could afford it, i would move to sweeden and let them all cut thier own throats unfortunately they will cut ours in the process. Hell i don't know anything but that if i cut myself i bleed red, affiliations? not too many i can honestly say i would trust my kids future with.

shows your bias

my father in law is a boomer

a goober americano type dude from the 60's draft dodged protested all the evil sins of cowards

he is more conservative than anyone i know now

age settles people and makes them not be fucking paranoid and cowardly

Conservative enough to understand the difference between big spending, government expanding Southern Democrats now posing as conservatives to get the keys to the treasury to serve their special interest masters and traditional conservative ideology regarding money and government?

And where is the population growth in these red states?
Is it urban growth or rural growth?
Because if you check out the red-blue map county by county, you see the urban areas are all blue, no matter what color the state ends up being, and the rural areas are red, even in Massachusetts.
So if the population grows enough in the cities of a red state, that state will turn blue.
Last time I checked the trend was that cities were gaining population, the US is still urbanizing.

__________________
“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address