Census

All five boroughs have death rates lower than the statewide rate, according to the new Census estimates.

Manhattan's rate was 6.9 deaths per 1,000 people from July 1, 2006 through July 1, 2007; Queens' rate was 6.8 per 1,000; Brooklyn and the Bronx each had a rate of 7.1 to 1,000; and Staten Island's was 7.5 per 1,000. (Tompkins County hasdthe lowest death rate, at 5.6 per 1,000, among the state's 67 counties.) The statewide rate was 8 deaths per 1,000 people.

Go figure.

The Census estimates out last week showed double-digit percentage growth in the South and the West since 2000. But in the Northeast--and in the Midwest--population growth was paltry.

The population of the Northeastern United States increased only 2 percent from April 1, 2000 through July 1, 2007. In the Midwest, the increase was 3.1 percent. (In the U.S. entirely, it was 7.2 percent.)

Part of the reason for the sluggish growth in the Northeast, as The New York Times noted last week, was higher housing prices. But, one has to ask, what about the Midwest, where housing prices are lower than in faster-growing places like Florida and California? Though it might be tempting for West Coasters to explain the downward population trends in the Midwest and Northeast as an aversion to cold weather, the two regions have more in common than chilly climates.  read more »