Iowa Cities Shrinking, Suburbs Expanding
The U.S. Census Bureau released population estimates for Iowa towns and muncipalities, as reported in the Des Moines Register.
While
these are estimates, they do indicate that the Des Moines Metro, at
least, is undergoing a population shift from the city to the suburban
areas. The population numbers themselves can be argued (as this
is merely an estimate) – but the estimate does include factors like
school enrollment, number of people with water service, etc.
Nearly
all of Iowa's municipalities have seen population losses – Mason City
is estimated to have lost about 1,000 people over the last four
years. (An interesting note for John Drury: the population
of Swaledale has an error of “Plus or Minus One Person“…)
These
estimates are interesting in and of themselves, but they also point out
the political challenge in engaging people to be interested in
rural/urban policies, particuarly as they relate to crime and school
quality. After all – how do you mobilize people who have already
voted with their feet?
An aside for today: The Democratic Party released a new version of the Democratic Party website.
A very sharp new design (don't tell anyone that the designer is
evidently a Macintosh user), with an added emphasis on state parties.
Blog For Iowa 