Fun With Census Data: U.S. Population Movement

In the video above, YouTube channel EarthDirect uses U.S. census data to show movement of the U.S. population from 1790 (the first census) through 2010 (the most recent census). Using a white-to-black scale for each state (where white is a relatively high percentage of population), this view shows us how the population moved over time, especially as we added states to the union.

You can see the cluster of people in what is now the northeastern U.S. spreading west and south. (There's also a brief moment when Hawaii pops up!) You can also observe the slow darkening of some states—like Maine—as their population drops, at least relative to the entire population of the country. There's one state that remains at or near the highest population peak throughout the entire span of census returns. Did you notice it?