Plus: Seattle gig workers get paid sick leave; Chicago and Wisconsin go to the polls; California’s insulin experiment hits a bump; Big gaps in electric vehicle ownership; and more news you can use from around the country.
It’s Friday, March 31, and we’d like to welcome you to the weekly State and Local Roundup. This week the Census Bureau released the latest population figures from counties nationwide, reflecting a return to pre-pandemic figures in some of the most populous counties following an exodus in 2021.
The population rise is largely owing to immigration, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Vintage 2022 estimates of population. If it weren’t for international migration, many of the largest counties wouldn’t have seen population increases. Some are still losing residents to suburbs, exurbs and other regions of the country like the Sunbelt.
More than one-half of all counties (52.5%) grew between 2021 and 2022, according to Census estimates. The largest counties, having populations at or greater than 100,000, mostly experienced population increases (68%); while the smallest counties nationally, those with populations below 10,000, experienced more population loss (60.8%) than gains (38.3%).
Route Fifty
By Elizabeth Daigneau, Daniel C. Vock and Molly Bolan
MARCH 31, 2023