PA is Old and Sedentary – Or Tried and True?
September 23, 2008
New data from the 2007 American Community Survey was released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The good folks of the Pennsylvania State Data Center picked out the goodies and wrote up a research brief [pdf].
The interesting tidbits:
- Pennsylvania ranks 4th in the nation in the proportion of its households with at least one member aged 65 or over (27% of all households)
- We also rank 4th in the nation in the proportion of its native-born residents who were born in the state (79%).
By Flickr user Toni To, under a Creative Commons license.
On this second point, I called the Data Center for clarification. They helpfully explained that “native-born residents” refers to U.S.-born residents. So, among the current residents of Pennsylvania who are natural-born citizens (born anywhere in the United States or its territories), 79% were born in this state (as opposed to, say, in Arizona, Maryland, Puerto Rico, or a military base abroad).
(I’m concerned that I’m setting an ageist tone to this blog—which is not my intention. )
What is your take on the meaning of these new statistics?
2 comments
Thanks for the link to the research brief Daniel – I’ve been looking for info like this.
Cheers,
Anne
by Anne on September 24, 2008 at 10:14 am. #
As with most things, it’s probably a little from column A (We Love it Here!) and a little from column B (Great Granpappy was born here, Granpappy was born here, and I was born here!). I think we’ll start to see that statistic move a little towards more mobility as the “matures” start to leave us. I’d love to see regional statistics in regards to the state. In my case, I couldn’t WAIT to vacate NE PA, but I love it here in Lancaster.
by Brian on September 24, 2008 at 3:06 pm. #