Census Bureau Estimates Reveal Whites “over represented” and Hispanics “under represented” in Maryland’s Voting Age Population

Non-Hispanic whites in Maryland make up a greater percentage of those eligible to vote than their share of the overall population, while all other races and Hispanic groups have smaller shares of the voter-eligible population. That finding comes from recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau which estimates citizen voting age populations by non-Hispanic race and Hispanic origin.

Hispanics are an ethnic designation, not a racial designation, and can be any race.  They are not included in the race categories in order to avoid double counting.

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American Community Survey Release Indicates Some Economic Progress, but Challenges Remain in Great Recession Aftermath

A Status Report on Maryland from the American Community Survey

Unemployment is down, income has stopped falling, more people have health insurance, and a smaller percentage of homeowners are “cost burdened.” That is some of the good news. But… unemployment remains stubbornly high for a recovery period, income is still well below pre‐recession levels and labor force participation continues to fall. That is some of the not so good news.

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Maryland Reaches Population Milestones

As was reported in the Baltimore Sun, the Baltimore Business Journal and other news media last week, the U.S. Census Bureau released its annual population estimates for counties. The Maryland State Data Center released its tables and analyses on March 14, 2103. These can be found on the 2012 Population Estimates for Maryland’s Jurisdictions webpage.  The big news for Maryland was that Baltimore City is estimated to have grown by just over 1,100 residents

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Data from the PG-Montgomery melting pot

The 2009-2011 American Community Survey was made public today.  It is a massive amount of data that covers all geographies of 20,000 or more in population. In Maryland, that includes 62 places plus all the counties and Baltimore City.

Maryland is a very socioeconomically diverse state — and this data release reinforces that notion. For instance, of the 62 places for which there is data, the percent of the foreign-born by place varies from a high of 69.4 percent in Langley Park, Prince George’s County, to a low of 1.2 percent in Cumberland, in Allegany County.  Many of the places in Maryland with the highest foreign-born share have similar characteristics. For instance, the top five are all in either Prince George’s or Montgomery counties:

Langley Park (Prince George’s) 69.4%

Chillum (Prince George’s)  45.6

Wheaton (Montgomery) 44

Gaithersburg (Montgomery)  37.5

Silver Spring (Montgomery)  37.8

Maryland average  13.8

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Good news for downtowns, less so Baltimore

The Census Bureau just released a report on population change between 2000-2010 on Metropolitan and Micropolitan areas. The report shows that many large metropolitan areas have seen increases in people moving back near downtown areas.  Unfortunately, Baltimore and New Orleans were exceptions.  Baltimore lost 10,194 within two miles of City Hall.  Also of interest to Maryland, the Washington, D.C. area saw an increase of non-Hispanic white population near downtown while registering declines in non-Hispanic whites in the surrounding suburbs.

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More from the ACS: Income shifts in Maryland counties

Here are some of the highlights of a comparison of median household income estimates between 1999 (from the 2000 Census) and the single-year American Community Survey estimates over the 2006 thru 2011 period, which were released this morning by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Great Recession, which lasted from December 2007 thru June 2009, and the subsequent slow recovery since that time, has had significant effects on median household income in Maryland.  For the State as a whole, median household income peaked in 2007 at $73,973, a rise of 3.7 percent from 1999 levels, but between 2007 and 2011 income declined by nearly $4,000 (-5.4%).  As a result, Maryland’s median household income in 2011 was nearly $1,400 (-1.9 percent) below the 1999 level.

Ten of the 16 jurisdictions for which there is data also had lower median household incomes in 2011 compared to 1999.  The largest percentage declines occurred in Wicomico (-10.8 percent), Cecil (-9.5 percent), Baltimore (-8.7 percent) and Allegany (-7.5 percent) counties.

In general, it has been the more rural or outlying suburban counties that have been hit the hardest by the Great Recession and the housing bust.  But there were also demographic changes that may have played a role in some of these income changes.  For example, Baltimore County, with the third-largest percentage decline in income since 1999, had the largest increase in the African-American population in the State between 2000 and 2010, while at the same time experienced the second largest decline in non-Hispanic whites (after Prince George’s County).  In general, incomes of African Americans and Hispanics are lower than those of non-Hispanic whites.

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What the ACS report tells us about Maryland

The American Community Survey (ACS) released this morning by the U.S. Census Bureau reveals a treasure trove of data about jurisdictions with populations of at least 65,000 people.  In Maryland, 16 jurisdictions meet that threshold, plus the state itself. The annual ACS report is derived from the U.S. Census Bureau’s nationwide monthly survey of 275,000 addresses covering demographic, social, economic and housing data. This report, which covers calendar year 2011, is a vital instrument to measure how far we have come since the Great Recession — and how far we have left to go to recover what was lost.

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Health insurance coverage estimates

The Census Bureau last week released health insurance coverage estimates for every county in the nation. Maryland was 13th with 87.3 percent insured. The Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE) program was created to develop model-based estimates of health insurance coverage for counties and states.

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Shrinking Government

There are fewer government entities in the U.S. than there were five years ago, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest preliminary count in the 2012 Census of Governments. In 2012, 89,004 local governments existed in the United States, down from 89,476 in the last census of governments conducted in 2007. Local governments included 3,031 counties (down from 3,033 in 2007), 19,522 municipalities (up from 19,492 in 2007), 16,364 townships (down from 16,519 in 2007), 37,203 special districts (down from 37,381 in 2007) and 12,884 independent school districts (down from 13,051 in 2007). Maryland recorded 347 governmental units, including 23 counties, 157 municipalities, and 167 special districts.

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Tale of two half-decades – and a silver lining for Baltimore?

These two maps depict the average annual population growth rates over two time periods – 2000 to 2006 and 2006 to 2011.  They also illustrate how the Great Recession and its aftermath affected Maryland. 

Of the 21 counties that experienced population growth during both time periods, 18 had a smaller growth rate in the 2006 to 2011 period, one grew about the same (Dorchester) and three grew at a greater annual rate in the 2006 to 2011 period.

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