Census Results Don't Lend Themselves to Twitter, Damnit

It has become abundantly clear that I am in fact one of these lazy people for whom 140 characters is sufficiently challenging. However 140 characters isn't enough space to write about some of the data coming out of the 2010 Census so here we go.

There are a number of great places to nerd out with the Census data. This interactive map tracking population change was fun. Michigan was the only state to have lost population since the last Census. Maine saw their African American population grow 1.2%, which somehow represented a 132% increase. I guess there aren't many black folks in Maine. The only state that grew more than 25% was Nevada, but whatever for? Cheap housing and a deep love for Cher?

The American Fact Finder is a somewhat confusing tool to look at Census data that data dorks would probably like. I used this tool to discover that my city, Oakland, has 390,724 people. This seemed low to me and in fact Oakland did experience an overall 2% population decline, as well as a whopping 25% decrease in the African-American population.

California experienced all of its growth in the inland regions, because that's where you can buy a house if you don't have a frazillion dollars. And yet, these are the very same regions with bananas levels of foreclosures.

Nationwide, the suburbs are growing more quickly than urban areas. I guess we knew that. But the suburbs often suck. This was not part of the Census and just the opinion of Professional Critic. However, it is commonly known that there is nothing to do in the suburbs except drive to The Olive Garden for the bottomless bucket of bread sticks.