South, West Have Fastest-Growing Cities

 Austin has been the capital of Texas since 1839, and in 2013 the area became the nation’s capital for population growth, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released this week. San Marcos, Cedar Park and Georgetown — each near Austin — ranked among the 10 fastest-growing cities with populations of 50,000 or more during the year ending July 1, 2013. San Marcos was number one in percent growth for the second consecutive year, with Austin itself gaining more people (nearly 21,000) than any city with fewer than 1 million residents.

       The South and West dominated the list of fastest-growing municipalities between 2012 and 2013, claiming all of the top 15, seven of which were in Texas. Frisco and McKinney (near Dallas), Odessa (in West Texas) and Pearland (near Houston) were the other Texas cities on the list. (See Table 1 for complete list.)

     In terms of numeric growth, 13 of the 15 cities that added the most people between 2012 and 2013 were in the South or West, except for New York City, which ranked first in numeric population growth. The nation’s largest city, New York, added 61,440 people in the year ending July 1, 2013. New York continued to be the nation’s most populous city by a wide margin, with 8.4 million residents in 2013, followed by Los Angeles and Chicago. The list of the 15 most populous cities has remained unchanged since last year, aside from Indianapolis moving past Jacksonville to number 12. (See Table 2 for complete list.)

      The list of the top 15 numeric gainers was also bookended by another city outside the South or West: Columbus, Ohio, which gained 12,450 people. In between were five Texas cities (Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth) and three in California (Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose). (See Table 3 for complete list.)

      The statistics released cover all local governmental units, including incorporated places (like cities and towns), minor civil divisions (such as townships) and consolidated cities (government units for which the functions of an incorporated place and its parent county have merged).

  

The worst countries in the world in which to be a worker

From BoingBoing:

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), a trade group alliance that works to improve laborers' rights around the globe, released its Global Rights Index this week. Countries are ranked from 1 (best) to 5 (worst) on a scale of how well they guard workers' rights. Cambodia, Qatar, and Guatemala were among the worst offenders.

The ITUC Global Rights Index ranks 139 countries against 97 internationally recognised indicators to assess where workers’ rights are best protected, in law and in practice.

“Countries such as Denmark and Uruguay led the way through their strong labour laws, but perhaps surprisingly, the likes of Greece, the United States and Hong Kong, lagged behind,” said ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow.

“A country’s level of development proved to be a poor indicator of whether it respected basic rights to bargain collectively, strike for decent conditions, or simply join a union at all.”

Here's the report.

The Effects of Exercise on The Brain

This Infographic about the effects of exercise on the brain suggestsone should keep a healthy mind and body by having an active lifestyle.

Explore the infographic here:
http://ghergich.com/infographic-examples/effects-of-exercise-on-the-brain/

For the First Time, Public Education Revenue Decreases in 2012

Public elementary and secondary education revenue declined in fiscal year 2012 for the first time since 1977, when the U.S. Census Bureau began collecting public education finance data on an annual basis. According to new Census Bureau findings released this week, public elementary and secondary school systems received $594.5 billion in total revenue in fiscal year 2012, down $4.9 billion (0.8 percent) from fiscal year 2011.

The findings come from Public Education Finances: 2012. These statistics provide figures on revenues, expenditures, debt and assets (cash and security holdings) of the nation’s elementary and secondary public school systems. The report, released annually, includes detailed statistics on spending — such as instruction, student transportation, salaries and employee benefits — at the national, state and school district levels.

State governments were the leading source of revenue ($270.4 billion), closely followed by revenue from local sources ($264.6 billion); almost two-thirds (65.3 percent) of revenue from local sources came from property taxes. Public school systems received $59.5 billion in revenue from the federal government, a decrease of $14.2 billion (19.2 percent) from the previous fiscal year.

The 50 states and the District of Columbia spent $10,608 per student on public elementary and secondary education in 2012, the same amount as 2011. All nine states in the Northeast were ranked among the 15 states with the highest spending per pupil (not including capital outlay or expenditure on long-term debt) in 2012. Out of the 20 states with the lowest spending per pupil, 18 were in the South or West.

The top spenders per pupil were New York ($19,552), the District of Columbia ($17,468), Alaska ($17,390), New Jersey ($17,266) and Connecticut ($16,274).

For the third year in a row there was a decline in total expenditures, which decreased to $593.8 billion, a $2.5 billion (0.4 percent) decrease from the previous year.

For the first time, these statistics can be found in American FactFinder, one of the Census Bureau’s data research tools.

Sub county population estimates and county housing units estimates now available

The Census Bureau released population estimates for cities, towns and villages.

All detail, including estimates for balance of town, parts of villages within a town, etc can be downloaded for each state. There is also a description of the methodology on that page.

You can find a table on incorporated places (cities and villages) in AFF.
For New York.

And a table for all county subdivisions (towns and cities) in AFF.
For New York.

Also released are estimates for the number of housing units. On AFF.
For New York.

If you see anything that looks suspicious because of your local knowledge please let me know. The Census Bureau has different avenues to integrate better local data when available but with some limitations on the kinds of data they can accept. Data on building permits and demolitions are driving this round of estimates.

The 10 most dangerous US cities for pedestrians

From BoingBoing:

Which American cities are the least and most safe for human beings on foot? Here are the stats, from “Dangerous by Design 2014” [PDF], a study by the Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition. The report calculates a “Pedestrian Danger Index” to identify where a person who is walking is most or least likely to get hit by a car.

The top four most dangerous cities are all in Florida. The four most safe: Boston, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and NYC. People who are not white and people who are older than 65 are most at risk.

April 2014: tied for warmest April on record

The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for April 2014 tied with 2010 as the highest on record for the month, at 0.77°C (1.39°F) above the 20th century average of 13.7°C (56.7°F).

The global land surface temperature was 1.35°C (2.43°F) above the 20th century average of 8.1°C (46.5°F), marking the third warmest April on record. For the ocean, the April global sea surface temperature was 0.55°C (0.99°F) above the 20th century average of 16.0°C (60.9°F), also the third highest for April on record.

The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for the January–April period (year-to-date) was 0.64°C (1.15°F) above the 20th century average of 12.6°C (54.8°F), the sixth warmest such period on record.

More from NOAA.

Deforestation: Our Disappearing Woodland

We cannot stop deforestation effects, but we can help. It is estimated that 80 to 90% of tropical rain forest systems will be destroyed by the year 2020. Take action now by purchasing refurbished, reclaimed and reused furniture, cut down on your paper consumption and recycle the paper that you use.

Check out the Infographic HERE.

World Health Statistics 2014

The global target of halving the proportion of people without access to improved sources of drinking water was met in 2010, with remarkable progress also having been made in reducing child mortality, improving nutrition, and combating HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.

Between 1990 and 2012, mortality in children under 5 years of age declined by 47%, from an estimated rate of 90 deaths per 1000 live births to 48 deaths per 1000 live births. This translates into 17 000 fewer children dying every day in 2012 than in 1990.

Nevertheless, nearly 18,000 children worldwide died every day in 2012, and the global speed of decline in mortality rate remains insufficient to reach the target of a two-thirds reduction in the 1990 levels of mortality by the year 2015.

More from the World Health Organization.

The Most Commonly Spoken Language in Each State Besides English and Spanish

From Mental Floss:
Today's map comes from Ben Blatt of Slate, who used data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. He created several other language maps, too, including each state's top Native American, Scandinavian, and African language.

One hundred years of price change: the Consumer Price Index and the American inflation experience

The year 2013 marked, in a sense, the 100th anniversary of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), because 1913 is the first year for which official CPI data became available. For 100 years, the index has been a major measure of consumer inflation in the U.S. economy, through war and peace, booms and recessions. Over those 100 years, the general public and policymakers have focused almost constantly on inflation; they have feared it, bemoaned it, sought it, and even tried to whip it. Different subperiods saw different trends in price movement, so each generation of Americans had a different experience of price change from the ones before and after it. This article looks at major trends in price change from one subperiod to the next and at how Americans and their leaders regarded those trends and reacted to them.

More from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Voting Patterns of Young Adults

Voting rates among young adults fell to 38.0 percent in 2012 from 44.3 percent in 2008 following increases in two consecutive presidential elections (2008 and 2004), according to a U.S. Census Bureau report on age and voting patterns.

These statistics come from Young Adult Voting: An Analysis of Presidential Elections, 1964-2012, which uses data collected by the Current Population Survey. The report provides a detailed 50-year historical portrait of voters with a specific focus on young adults.

In every U.S. presidential election from 1964 on, 18- to 24-year-olds voted at lower rates than all other age groups. In contrast, Americans 65 and older have voted at higher rates than all other age groups since the 1996 election.

“The young-adult voting gap closed somewhat from 2000 to 2008 but opened up a bit again in 2012,” said Thom File, a sociologist in the Census Bureau’s Social, Economic and Housing Statistics Division. “Age-based voting patterns are not set in stone. For example as recently as 1992, the nation’s oldest voters did not vote at a level higher than all other age groups.”

State Level Voting

Voting rates also varied by state according to the report. Although 18- to 29-year-olds voted at lower levels than other age groups nationally in 2012, this result was not geographically uniform.

“Although young adults have been historically less inclined to vote than older individuals, in 2012 young voters were more engaged in states where older populations were highly engaged as well,” File said. “At the very least, this suggests that low voting rates among young adults can vary according to geography and other factors.”

Gender and Age Differences

Voting rates have also varied according to age and gender. Women tend to vote at higher rates than men across most age groups. In every election since 1996, women age 18 through 29 voted at higher rates than men of the same age, with a difference of about 8.0 percentage points in 2008. For older Americans, a gender voting gap has operated in reverse, with men 65 and older voting at higher rates than women of that age in every election since 1996. At about 6.5 percentage points, this differential was larger in 1996 than in the two most recent elections, with older men voting at a higher rate than older women by about 3.7 percentage points, an indication that the gender divide among older voters may soon be a thing of the past.

Online Data Tools: Voting Report

In addition to the report, the Census Bureau released an interactive Voting Report that provides comparisons of voting and registration patterns by demographic, social and geographic characteristics for the U.S. and states.

Divorce Rate Higher than Ever

How can that be? Everyone knows the divorce rate is down. Once boomers dumped spouse number one and settled down with spouse number two, divorce moved off their bucket list.

Not so, according to demographers Sheela Kennedy and Steven Ruggles. In their research paper, "Breaking Up Is Hard to Count: The Rise of Divorce in the United States, 1980-2010" (Demography, April 2014, $39.95), the researchers blame a "deterioration of the statistical system" for the "uncertainty about trends in union instability over the past three decades." Their analysis shows that rather than declining, the divorce rate in 2011 was at a record high.

More from the Demo Memo.

Americans’ aging autos

From 2008 to 2012, the average age of U.S. households’ vehicles increased as owners held on to their cars, trucks, and vans longer. The trend in aging autos coincides with declines in average household income in 2008; however, subsequent recovery in households’ incomes and a return to previous levels of expenditures on vehicles in 2012 do not appear to have reversed the pattern of aging. Analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey suggests that households continued to own the same number of vehicles over the last 10 years, but are owning their vehicles longer.

More from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Coincidence or Spurious Correlation: Divorce Rate In Maine and the Per Capita Consumption of Butter in the US:

Here for spreading far and wide is another graphical reminder of the important distinction between correlation and causation.

Created by Tyler Vigen, Spurious Correlations is a website devoted to documenting examples of what are best described as spurious relationships – that is, relationships in which two events have no causal link, but still appear to due to either a coincidence or a third, confounding variable. The same way the rise in autism rates may look like it's caused by the rise in organic food sales, Vigen's charts show causal relationships between things like divorce rates in Maine and margarine consumption, the number of people who died by becoming tangled in their bedsheets and total revenue generated by skiing facilities, and US crude oil imports from Norway and the number of drivers killed per annum in railway train collisions. A good website to have on hand when discussing cognitive biases with antivaxxers.

More from IO9.

Modes Less Traveled -- Bicycling and Walking to Work in the United States: 2008-2012

Many U.S. cities are seeing an increase in bicycle commuters, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released last week. Nationwide, the number of people who traveled to work by bike increased roughly 60 percent over the last decade, from about 488,000 in 2000 to about 786,000 during the 2008-2012 period. This is the largest percentage increase of all commuting modes tracked by the 2000 Census and the 2008-2012 American Community Survey.
The report.

The Census Bureau also released a new commuting edition of the interactive map Census Explorer, which gives Web visitors easy click-and-zoom access to commuting statistics for every neighborhood in the U.S. It also shows how commuting has changed since 1990 at the neighborhood, county and state level — including how long it takes to get to work, commutes longer than an hour, and number of bikers. This edition of Census Explorer uses statistics from the American Community Survey, the best national source of commuting statistics down to the neighborhood level.

“In recent years, many communities have taken steps to support more transportation options, such as bicycling and walking,” said Brian McKenzie, a Census Bureau sociologist and the report’s author. “For example, many cities have invested in bike share programs, bike lanes and more pedestrian-friendly streets.”

While bicyclists still account for just 0.6 percent of all commuters, some of the nation’s largest cities have more than doubled their rates since 2000. Portland, Ore., had the highest bicycle-commuting rate at 6.1 percent, up from 1.8 percent in 2000. In Minneapolis, the rate increased from 1.9 percent to 4.1 percent.

The report also looks at the number of people who walk to work. After steadily decreasing since 1980, the percent of people who walk to work has stabilized since 2000. In 1980, 5.6 percent of workers walked to work, and that rate declined to 2.9 percent by 2000. However, in the 2008-2012 period, the rate of walkers remained statistically unchanged from 2000. Among larger cities, Boston had the highest rate of walking to work at 15.1 percent.
The report, “Modes Less Traveled — Bicycling and Walking to Work in the United States: 2008-2012,” highlights the trends and socio-economic and geographic differences between motorized and nonmotorized commutes. This report — the Census Bureau’s first focusing only on biking and walking to work — is one of many that examines specific aspects of commuting, including workplace location, working from home, long commutes and specific travel modes.

Biking to Work Highlights
• The West had the highest rate of biking to work at 1.1 percent, and the South had the lowest rate at 0.3 percent.
• Among large cities, Portland, Ore., had the highest bicycle-commuting rate at 6.1 percent.
• The median commute time for those who bike to work was about 19.3 minutes.
• Men were more likely to bike to work than women were. The rate of bicycle commuting for men was more than double that of women, 0.8 percent compared with 0.3 percent.
• Those with a graduate or professional degree or higher and those with less than a high school degree had the highest rates of biking to work, at 0.9 and 0.7 percent, respectively.
• 1.5 percent of those with an income of $10,000 or less commuted to work by bicycle, the highest rate of bicycle commuting by any income category.
• African-Americans had the lowest rate of biking to work at 0.3 percent, compared with some other race or two or more races who had the highest rate at 0.8 percent.

Walking to Work Highlights
• The Northeast showed the highest rate of walking to work at 4.7 percent of workers. Several of the places with high rates were “college towns,” including Ithaca, N.Y., where about 42.4 percent walked to work. The South had the lowest rate at 1.8 percent. Among large cities, Boston was one of the highest walking-to-work cities at 15.1 percent.
• Workers living in core cities walked to work at a rate of 4.3 percent, compared with 2.4 percent for workers in suburbs.
• The median commute time for those who walk to work was 11.5 minutes, and they left their home at later hours than other modes.
• Men walked to work at a rate of 2.9 percent compared with 2.8 percent for women.
• Those with less than a high school degree had the highest rate of walking to work at 3.7 percent, followed by those with graduate or professional degrees at 2.7 percent.
• 8.2 percent of those with an income of $10,000 or less walked to work, the highest rate of walking to work by any income category.
• Asians and workers of some other race or two or more races had the highest rate of walking to work at 4.0 and 4.2, respectively.

Mother's Day: May 11, 2014 - Profile America Facts for Features

Mother’s Day: May 11, 2014

The driving force behind Mother’s Day was Anna Jarvis, who organized observances in Grafton, W.Va., and Philadelphia on May 10, 1908. As the annual celebration became popular around the country, Jarvis asked members of Congress to set aside a day to honor mothers. She succeeded in 1914, when Congress designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

How Many Mothers

4.1 million

Number of women between the ages of 15 and 50 who gave birth in the past 12 months. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2012 American Community Survey, Table B13002  <http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/B13002>

35.7%

Percentage of births in 2011 that were to unmarried women age 15 to 50. The metro areas with birth rates to unmarried mothers that were among the highest in the country included Flagstaff, Ariz. (74.6 percent), Greenville, N.C. (69.4 percent), Lima, Ohio (67.5 percent), Myrtle Beach-North Myrtle Beach-Conway, S.C. (67.4 percent) and Danville, Va. (67.3 percent).

Source: Social and Economic Characteristics of Currently Unmarried Women With a Recent Birth: 2011, Table 1 <http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acs-21.pdf>

How Many Children

2,373.5 

Decline in total fertility rate or estimated number of total births per 1,000 women in Utah in 2012 (based on current birth rates by age), which led the nation. At the other end of the spectrum is Rhode Island, with a total fertility rate of 1,592.5 births per 1,000 women.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Reports, Page 66, Table 12 <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr62/nvsr62_09.pdf>

20%

Percentage of all women age 15 to 44 who have had two children. About 47 percent had no children, 17 percent had one, 10 percent had three and about 5 percent had four or more. Source: Fertility of American Women: 2010, Detailed Tables, Table 1 fertility/data/cps/2010.html> 

Recent Births

3.953 million 

Decline in the number of births registered in the United States in 2012. Of this number, 305,388 were to teens 15 to 19 and 7,157 to women age 45 to 49. Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Reports <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr62/nvsr62_09.pdf>

25.8 

Average age of women in 2012 when they gave birth for the first time, up from 25.6 years in 2011. The increase in the mean age in 2012 reflects, in part, the relatively large decline in births to women in their teen years and their 20s. Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Reports, Page 7 <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr62/nvsr62_09.pdf>          

62.1%

Percentage of women age 16 to 50 who had a birth in the past 12 months who were in the labor force. Source: 2012 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, Table S1301 <http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/S1301>

29.5%

The percentage of mothers who had given birth in the past 12 months who had a bachelor’s degree or higher. Source: 2012 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, Table S1301 <http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/S1301>

84.6%

Percentage of women age 15 to 50 who gave birth in the past year and who have at least a high school diploma. Source: 2012 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, Table S1301 <http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/S1301>

Jacob and Sophia

The most popular baby names for boys and girls, respectively, in 2012. Source: Social Security Administration babynames/>

66

Number of births in the past year per 1,000 women age 15 to 50 with a graduate or professional degree. The number was 56 per 1,000 for women whose highest level of education was a bachelor’s degree. Source: 2012 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, Table S1301 <http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/S1301>

Mothers Remembered 15,307 Number of florists nationwide in 2011. The 66,165 employees in floral shops across our nation will be especially busy preparing, selling and delivering floral arrangements for Mother’s Day. Source: County Business Patterns: 2011 (NAICS 45311) <http://censtats.census.gov/cgi-bin/cbpnaic/cbpdetl.pl> 12,403 Number of employees of greeting-card publishers in 2011. Source: County Business Patterns: 2011 (NAICS 511191) <http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/> 15,097 The number of cosmetics, beauty supplies and perfume stores nationwide in 2011. Perfume is a popular gift given on Mother’s Day. Source: County Business Patterns: 2011 (NAICS 44612) <http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/> 23,394 Number of jewelry stores in the United States in 2011 — the place to purchase necklaces, earrings and other timeless pieces for mom. Source: County Business Patterns: 2011 (NAICS 44831) <http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/> Stay-at-Home Moms 5 million Number of stay-at-home moms in married-couple family groups in 2013 — statistically unchangedfrom 2012 and 2011. In 2013, 24 percent of married-couple family groups with children under 15 had a stay-at-home mother, up from 21 percent in 2000. In 2007, before the recession, stay-at-home mothers were found in 24 percent of married-couple family groups with children under 15, not statistically different from the percentage in 2012. Source: America's Families and Living Arrangements, Table SHP-1 <http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p20-570.pdf> Compared with other moms, stay-at-home moms in 2007 were more likely:  · Younger (44 percent were under age 35 compared with 38 percent of mothers in the labor force). · Hispanic (27 percent compared with 16 percent of mothers in the labor force). · Foreign-born (34 percent compared with 19 percent of mothers in the labor force). · Living with a child under age 5 (57 percent compared with 43 percent of mothers in the labor force). · Without a high school diploma (19 percent versus 8 percent of mothers in the labor force). Source: America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2007 <http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam/p20-561.pdf> Taking Care of the Kids 863,126 Number of child day care services employees across the country in 2011. They were employed by one of  the 75,059 child day care services. In addition, there were 747,436 child day care services without paid employees. Many mothers turn to these centers to help juggle motherhood and careers. Source: County Business Patterns: 2011 NAICS 6244 <http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/> and Nonemployer Statistics: 201l <http://www.census.gov/econ/nonemployer/> 94% The percentage of the 37.8 million mothers living with children younger than 18 in 2004 who lived with their biological children only. In addition, 3 percent lived with stepchildren, 2 percent with adopted children and 0.5 percent with foster children. Source: Living Arrangements of Children: 2004 <http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p70-114.pdf> Single Moms 10 million The number of single mothers living with children younger than 18 in 2013, up from 3.4 million in 1970. Source: America’s Families and Living Arrangements <http://www.census.gov/hhes/families/files/shp1.xls> Table SHP-1 5.6 million Number of custodial mothers who were due child support in 2011. Source: Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 2011, Table 1 <http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p60-246.pdf> 415,475 Number of mothers who had a birth in the past 12 months and were living with a cohabiting partner. Source: 2012 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, Table B13004<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/B13004>

Millennial Marriage Projections

From the New Strategist newsletter:

The millennial generation has postponed marriage for so long it will go into the record books. According to projections by the Urban Institute, millennials will be less likely to have married by age 40 than any generation in American history--even if they hurry up about it.

"The economic shock of the recession put marriage on hold for many young adults and marriage rates are returning slowly (if at all) to pre-recession levels," explain the Urban Institute researchers in their report on the projections. Take a look at the trend: Among women, the percentage who had married by age 40 was 91 percent for older boomers, 87 percent for younger boomers, and 82 percent for generation X. Even if marriage rates return to pre-recession levels, only 77 percent of younger millennial women will have married by age 40. If marriage rates do not rebound, an even smaller 69 percent will have married by age 40. For millennial men, the respective figures are 73 percent with a rebound and 65 percent without.

"With respect to marriage at least, our projections indicate that many of these millennials will not recover in the future from the opportunities they have missed as young adults," say the researchers. As if that's not enough, there's more bad news. Not only will millennials be the biggest "singles" generation in history, but marital status will split the generation into haves and have-nots. That's because marriage rates are higher for college graduates, who earn more and tend to marry one another.

Are You Addicted to Your Cellphone?

From Departing the Text:

Are you texting/messaging or checking emails all the time? Is it with you all the time?

Some interesting cell-phone statistics:

According to Mobile Mindset Study conducted by security app Lookout:
58% of U.S. smartphone owners check their phones at least every hour - and a large share check their phones while in bed or in the bathroom;
63% of women and 73% of men ages 18-34 say they don't go an hour without checking their phones (Mobile Mindset Study conducted by security app Lookout);
94% of those surveyed were concerned about losing their smartphones, 73% said they'd panic, and 38% are most concerned about the cost and hassle of replacing a lost phone.

Wide Impact of Climate Change Already Seen in U.S., Study Says

The effects of human-induced climate change are being felt in every corner of the United States, scientists reported Tuesday, with water growing scarcer in dry regions, torrential rains increasing in wet regions, heat waves becoming more likely and more severe, wildfires growing worse, and forests dying under assault from heat-loving insects.

Such sweeping changes have been caused by an average warming of less than 2 degrees Fahrenheit over most land areas of the country in the past century, the scientists found. If greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane continue to escalate at a rapid pace, they said, the warming could conceivably exceed 10 degrees by the end of this century.

“Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present,” the scientists declared in a major new report assessing the situation in the United States.

Data on housing loan origination

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau maintains data related to housing loans, going back to 2007, and a lot of the filters on even their basic search tool - geography, owner-occupied or not, demographics on loan applicants - will be useful.

Active U.S. Hate Groups

The Southern Poverty Law Center counted 939 active hate groups in the United States in 2013. Only organizations and their chapters known to be active during 2013 are included.

All hate groups have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.

This list was compiled using hate group publications and websites, citizen and law enforcement reports, field sources and news reports.

Hate group activities can include criminal acts, marches, rallies, speeches, meetings, leafleting or publishing. Websites appearing to be merely the work of a single individual, rather than the publication of a group, are not included in this list. Listing here does not imply a group advocates or engages in violence or other criminal activity.

Music statistics

Looking for statistics on current music? Start with ASCAP's annual report and RIAA's Year-End U.S. Music Shipment and Revenue Statistics.

Older Americans Month: May 2014

                                          

Older Americans Month: May 2014

A meeting with the National Council of Senior Citizens resulted in President John F. Kennedy designating May 1963 as Senior Citizens Month, encouraging the nation to pay tribute to older people across the country. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter’s proclamation changed the name to Older Americans Month, a time to celebrate those 65 and older through ceremonies, events and public recognition.

43.1 million

The number of people who were 65 and older in the United States on July 1, 2012. This group accounted for 13.7 percent of the total population. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population  Estimates

<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2012/PEPAGESEX>

92.0 million

Projected population of people 65 and older in 2060. People in this age group would comprise just over one in five U.S. residents at that time. Of this number, 18.2 million would be 85 or older. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Projections

<http://www.census.gov/population/projections/data/national/2012.html>

2.4 million

Projected number of baby boomers in 2060. At that time, the youngest baby boomers would be 96 years old. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Projections

<http://www.census.gov/population/projections/data/national/2012.html>

2056

The year in which, for the first time, the population 65 and older would outnumber people younger than 18 in the U.S. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Projections

<http://www.census.gov/population/projections/data/national/2012.html>

GDP by Industry

Gross-Domestic-Product-(GDP)-by-Industry Data includes:

Value added, gross output, intermediate inputs, the components of value added, and employment by industry
Intermediate energy, materials, and purchased services inputs by industry
Gross output by industry

The Future of County Nursing Homes in NYS

Most Homes Are in Jeopardy & Changes Are Essential.
The 2013 report from CGR.

Which U.S. States Have the Most (and Least) State Pride?

Don’t mess with Texas, Montana, or Alaska—the residents of these three states are among those with the most state pride, according to a new Gallup poll.

The research company interviewed at least 600 residents in each of the 50 states and asked whether their home was “the best possible state to live in,” “one of the best possible states to live in,” “as good a state as any to live in,” or “the worst possible state to live in.” Montanans and Alaskans responded with the most enthusiasm, with 77 percent of the participants in both states saying theirs is the best, or one of the best, places to live. Utah, Wyoming, and Texas followed with 70, 69, and 68 percent of residents answering the same way.

On the other hand, not every state’s citizens were quite so positive about their home. Leading the states with the lowest levels of pride were Rhode Island (only 18 percent of participants said the Plantation State is the best or one of the best spots to live in America), Illinois (19 percent), and Mississippi (26 percent)>

More from PARADE.

Email Greetings In Multiple Languages

When communicating with people from around the world, it's a nice touch to mix in a greeting or two in the other party's native tongue.

The Munson-Nixon Line: Up Close on Baseball’s Borders

From the New York Times:

Steve Rushin of Sports Illustrated has called the line running through Connecticut that separates Yankee fans and Red Sox fans the Munson-Nixon line. Mr. Rushin came up with the name — in honor of the late Yankee catcher Thurman Munson and the retired Red Sox right fielder Trot Nixon — in 2003, and he had to guess where the line ran: “north of New Haven but south of Hartford, running the breadth of central Connecticut.”

We don’t have to guess anymore.

Fans may not list which team they favor on the census, but millions of them do make their preferences public on Facebook. Using aggregated data provided by the company, the New York Times was able to create an unprecedented look at the geography of baseball fandom, going down not only to the county level, as Facebook did in a nationwide map it released a few weeks ago, but also to ZIP codes. We can now clearly see that both Hartford and New Haven are in fact Yankee outposts. We can also determine the precise Chicago neighborhoods where White Sox jerseys stop being welcome and the central California town where the Dodgers cede fan favorite status to the Giants.

U.S. Economy Added Nearly 245,000 Nonemployer Businesses in 2012

The number of businesses without paid employees in the U.S. reached 22.7 million in 2012, up 1.1 percent from 2011, according to statistics released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. This marks the third straight annual increase in nonemployer businesses, which are businesses with no paid employees, annual business receipts of $1,000 or more ($1 or more in the construction sector) and are subject to federal income taxes.

Nearly all industry sectors that make up nonemployer businesses experienced growth in the number of establishments and receipts, according to findings from the report released this week. Nonemployer Statistics: 2012 includes data on nearly 450 industries in metropolitan areas, counties, states and nationwide.

“Nonemployer businesses represent entrepreneurship in perhaps its purest form, including the classic ‘mom and pop’ shops and people running businesses out of their homes,” said William Bostic Jr., the associate director for economic programs at the Census Bureau.
This release covers 19.6 million sole proprietorships, 1.4 million corporations and 1.7 million partnerships, which account for the total number of nonemployer businesses.

Florida had the largest increase in nonemployer businesses, with 57,978 added in 2012. California (39,051), Texas (38,504) and New York (15,207) had the next highest increases. California still had the largest number of nonemployer businesses with 2.9 million.

2010-2011 Migration Data and 2010 Controlled Foreign Corporations

The trends data page for the Cornell Program on Applied Demographics now includes data from the latest IRS release, HERE.

Within the section on IRS migration flows, there are two sub sections that you can expand by clicking. One concentrates on moves between NY counties (empty for NY state as a whole), the other is an attempt to create “rates” that are comparable over time and between counties.

This shows some maps that can be made using this data.

US Is an Oligarchy Not a Democracy, says Scientific Study

A study, to appear in the Fall 2014 issue of the academic journal Perspectives on Politics, finds that the U.S. is no democracy, but instead an oligarchy, meaning profoundly corrupt, so that the answer to the study’s opening question, "Who governs? Who really rules?" in this country, is:

"Despite the seemingly strong empirical support in previous studies for theories of majoritarian democracy, our analyses suggest that majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts. Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and association, and a widespread (if still contested) franchise. But, ..." and then they go on to say, it's not true, and that, "America's claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened" by the findings in this, the first-ever comprehensive scientific study of the subject, which shows that there is instead "the nearly total failure of 'median voter' and other Majoritarian Electoral Democracy theories [of America]. When the preferences of economic elites and the stands of organized interest groups are controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy."

The authors of this historically important study are Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page, and their article is titled Testing Theories of American Politics. The authors clarify that the data available are probably under-representing the actual extent of control of the U.S. by the super-rich.

More from Common Dreams

See also:

CEO Pay Soars, Workers Toil in Capitalism's New Gilded Age

Krugman: Worried About Oligarchy? You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

Alternativ​es to Westlaw

For federal court cases, including bankruptcy courts, one can get court filings online at www.pacer.gov. One has to register for it,, though there is no registration fee. However, all registered users will be charged as follows:
•Use of web-based PACER systems will generate an $.10 per page charge.
•Audio files of court hearings retrieved via PACER will generate a $2.40 per file charge.
It is not as easy to search as Westlaw, and many times you need to have a case number.

For actual reported court opinions - appellate cases for the most part, including the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court - you can find a lot of those on the professional site for Findlaw at http://lp.findlaw.com/. This site is available on the free Internet.

Since most trial court opinions are not reported or published, one should look for news stories in newspaper databases in
the region where the case took place.

USASPENDING.gov

Learn About USAspending.gov:

The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) of 2006 requires that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) establish a single searchable website, accessible to the public at no cost, which includes for each Federal award:

the name of the entity receiving the award;
the amount of the award;
information on the award including transaction type, funding agency, etc;
the location of the entity receiving the award; and
a unique identifier of the entity receiving the award.

USAspending.gov was first launched in December 2007 to fulfill these requirements. Prime award information shown on the website is provided by Federal Agencies through four main source systems. USAspending.gov receives and displays data pertaining to obligations (amounts awarded for federally sponsored projects during a given budget period), not outlays or expenditures (actual cash disbursements made against each project).

USAspending.gov has been updated in October 2010 to display of first-tier sub-award data (subcontracts and subgrants). Sub-award information shown on the website is provided by FSRS. The latest guidance documents pertaining to sub-award reporting can be found under News.

Public Mapping Project, for the drawing of electoral districts

The drawing of electoral districts is among the least transparent processes in democratic governance. All too often, redistricting authorities maintain their power by obstructing public participation. The resulting districts embody the goals of politicians to the detriment of the representational interests of communities and the public at large.

Members of the Public Mapping Project seek to change this power balance by making it possible for the public to draw the boundaries of their communities and to generate redistricting plans for their state and localities -- through their web-browsers. The Public Mapping Project is developing District Builder, an open source software redistricting application designed to give the public transparent, accessible, and easy-to-use on-line mapping tools.

This technological innovation will enable greater public participation where redistricting authorities solicit public input. Where redistricting authorities are not responsive to the representational needs of the public, plans drawn by the public may be used as a yardstick by which to compare a redistricting authority’s plan against. And where the courts must step in when the regular redistricting process breaks down, judges will have a greater menu of options to consider.

Census Bureau overhauling how it counts uninsured

The New York Times is reporting a change in how the census is going to count the uninsured, asserting that the bureau "is changing its annual survey so thoroughly that it will be difficult to measure the effects of President Obama’s health care law in the next report, due this fall, census officials said." This story has all the potential to give ammunition to the law's opponents with more "cooking the books" allegations.

An internal Census Bureau document said that the new questionnaire included a “total revision to health insurance questions” and, in a test last year, produced lower estimates of the uninsured. Thus, officials said, it will be difficult to say how much of any change is attributable to the Affordable Care Act and how much to the use of a new survey instrument.

The indispensable Sarah Kliff has the whole story, a story that really clarifies this change in the survey instrument and what it could mean for estimating the numbers of uninsured.

More from The Daily Kos>

This Is Us: Portrait of a Changing America

A nation in time, in seven charts, from The Atlantic Monthly.

THE MEATLESS MONDAY PHENOMENON

Going meatless on Monday has become a phenomenon in the U.S. and 29 other countries. We worked with Health Perch to create this Infographic about Meatless Monday, the health effects of meat, and the future of meat of consumption.

Did you know that cutting back on meat one day a week will reduce your saturated fat intake by 15%? Try going meatless on Mondays to start living a healthier life.

SEE THE INFOGRAPHIC.

Census Reporter

Census Reporter is a Knight News Challenge-funded project to make it easier for journalists to write stories using information from the U.S. Census bureau. Place profiles and comparison pages provide a friendly interface for navigating data, including visualizations for a more useful first look.

How the Feds Blind Us To Our Malaise

Though we seldom think of them this way, America's statistical agencies are the very eyes and ears of our democracy. When they are functioning properly, they provide essential information to help the public and its elected representatives see what is going right in our country-and what is going wrong. Such information is crucial for forming a more perfect union.

Without timely and accurate information on our domestic problems, our government cannot hope to address these swiftly, much less effectively. Whether you are a progressive or a conservative, in favor of more government or less of it, you need good data to inform your own efforts to make our country better.

America was the first government in the modern era to recognize the importance of evidence-based public policy. Our Constitution mandated a decennial census-a truly revolutionary notion back in the late eighteenth century. And for most of our history, the U.S. statistical system has been well ahead of the curve, if not a virtual wonder of the world.

No longer. Today our government statistical services are failing at some vital missions-and they have generally been falling away from the global forefront for at least a generation. In key fields we see not only stagnation, but even retrogression. The painful truth is that our statistical services are currently incapable of providing some of the basic facts and figures we need for confronting our most pressing domestic social troubles.

More from HERE.

Homeownership in 2013

The nation's homeownership rate fell to 65.1 percent in 2013, according to annual statistics released by the Census Bureau. The 2013 homeownership rate was down from 65.4 percent in 2012 and the all-time high of 69.0 in 2004. By age, 2013 homeownership rates (and the percentage point change since 2004) look like this...

Under age 25: 22.2% (-3.0)
Aged 25 to 29: 34.1% (-6.1)
Aged 30 to 34: 48.1% (-9.3)
Aged 35 to 39: 55.8% (-10.4)
Aged 40 to 44: 65.0% (-6.9)
Aged 45 to 54: 71.2% (-6.0)
Aged 55 to 64: 76.6% (-5.1)
Aged 65-plus: 80.8% (-0.3)

If homeownership rates by age were the same in 2013 as in 2004, then the overall rate would be a much higher 70.3 percent rather than 65.1. The United States would have nearly 6 million more homeowners--81 million rather than the 75 million of 2013. Among households headed by 30-to-39-year-olds, there would be 2 million more homeowners.

The Centenarian Population: 2007-2011

Centenarians have lower education levels, are overwhelmingly women and are more likely to live in poverty than the 65-and-older population, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released this week. The report, The Centenarian Population: 2007-2011, analyzes characteristics of centenarians and how they compare with those 65 years and older.

"Centenarians are a small group who are a significant indicator of American life," said Brian Kincel, a statistical analyst in the Census Bureau’s Age and Special Populations Branch and the report’s author. "By living a century or more, they have seen great changes in the American landscape and their education levels reflect social and economic conditions in the 1920s and earlier. Today, their situations may vary based on many factors, and the statistics in this report begin to tell their story."


The report, based on results from the American Community Survey, compares social and economic differences between the 55,000 centenarians in the U.S. and the 40 million people 65 and older.


Major findings from the report include:

· Of centenarians, 57 percent received at least a high school diploma compared with 77 percent of the 65-and-older group.

· Women made up 81 percent of centenarians and 57 percent of those 65 and older.


· 17 percent of centenarians lived below the poverty line, and 9 percent of the 65-and-older population were in poverty.

· Among women, 3 percent of centenarians were married as opposed to 41 percent of women 65 and older. Among men, 23 percent of centenarians were married compared with 71 percent of men 65 and older.

· Of centenarians, 83 percent received Social Security income compared with 88 percent of the 65-and-older group.

· 24 percent of centenarians received retirement income, while 38 percent of the 65-and-older population received it.


About the American Community Survey


The American Community Survey provides a wide range of important statistics about all communities in the country. The American Community Survey gives communities the current information they need to plan investments and services. Retailers, homebuilders, police departments, and town and city planners are among the many private- and public-sector decision makers who count on these annual results.


Ever since Thomas Jefferson directed the first census in 1790, the census has collected detailed characteristics about our nation’s people. Questions about jobs and the economy were added 20 years later under James Madison, who said such information would allow Congress to “adapt the public measures to the particular circumstances of the community,” and over the decades allow America “an opportunity of marking the progress of the society.”

Wives Are Better Educated than Husbands

Among the nation's married couples, wives are more educated than husbands 20.7 percent of the time. This figure exceeds, for the first time, the 19.9 percent in which husbands are more educated than wives, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of census data.

Among newlyweds, the trend is even more pronounced, with 27 percent of wives more educated than husbands and only 15 percent of husbands more educated than wives. Despite their greater educational attainment, says Pew, only 39 percent of better-educated newlywed wives earned more than their husbands. The 58 percent majority earned less.

From the New Strategist.

Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability

Human interference with the climate system is occurring, and climate change poses risks for human and natural systems... The assessment of impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability... evaluates how patterns of risks and potential benefits are shifting due to climate change. It considers how impacts and risks related to climate change can be reduced and managed through adaptation and mitigation. The report assesses needs, options, opportunities, constraints, resilience, limits, and other aspects associated with adaptation.

Climate change involves complex interactions and changing likelihoods of diverse impacts. A focus on risk, which is new in this report, supports decision-making in the context of climate change, and complements other elements of the report. People and societies may perceive or rank risks and potential benefits differently, given diverse values and goals.

Compared to past reports, the WGII AR5 assesses a substantially larger knowledge base of relevant scientific, technical, and socioeconomic literature. Increased literature has facilitated comprehensive assessment across a broader set of topics and sectors, with expanded coverage of human systems, adaptation, and the ocean.

Summary for Policymakers
Final Drafts Downloads

See where every execution has taken place since 1977, in one map

From the Washington Post, where the graphic resides:

A majority of Americans support the death penalty, but their ranks have been shrinking for 17 years, according to a new Pew Research Center poll.

As of 2013, 55 percent of adults say they back the death penalty for convicted murderers, while 37 percent say they do not. That’s a sizable difference from two years earlier, when support won out with 62 percent with 31 percent opposed. A majority of whites, Republicans and independents support the death penalty, while majorities of Hispanics, blacks and Democrats do not.

PeopleForBikes

PeopleForBikes is the movement to improve bicycling in the U.S. By collaborating with millions of individual riders, businesses, community leaders and elected officials, it is uniting Americans to boost bicycling on a national level for results that can be seen locally. Here’s what the organization has accomplished in 2013.

Don't Be Fooled: Beware of Washington State Mudslide Charity Scams

In the wake of the deadly mudslide in Washington State, the Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, reminds consumers that scams often follow disasters. If you’re asked to make a charitable donation to help people in disaster-affected areas, before you give, be sure your donations are going to a reputable organization that will use the money as promised.

Unfortunately, legitimate charities face competition from scammers who either collect for a charity that doesn't exist or aren't honest about how their “charity” will use the money you give. Like legitimate charities, they might appeal for donations in person, by phone or mail, by e-mail, on websites, or on social networking sites. For more information, read the FTC consumer blog post, Helping victims of the Washington State mudslide — Make sure your donations count and, for a list of groups that can help you research a charity, go to Charity Scams.