The population of Hoosier State grew to 6.75 million, from 6.73 million in 2019 – an increase of 23,943 people, according to federal agency estimates.
Illinois’s contiguous population dropped by 79,487 residents to 12.6 million, the second-largest loss in the entire country after New York State alone, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported.
The official results of the 2020 census have not yet been released, and the new numbers reflect the Census Bureau’s annual estimate, not the official census.
Annual estimates show that northwest Indiana is showing population growth again for the first time in years, with an estimated 2,102 more residents last year.
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That increase reverses a long-running trend that followed deindustrialization and job losses at the region’s steel mills, Micah Pollak, an assistant professor of economics at Indiana University Northwest, in a recent paper for the Indiana Business Research Center.
He wrote that improved public transportation through the extension of the South Shore Line commuter rail line, “a wider range of high-end shops, restaurants and breweries” and expanded bike paths and green spaces now “enable the region to better meet needs and requirements. expectations of the next generation. “
“While Northwest Indiana was once a region where many residents hoped to one day leave, we are now seeing more people returning, choosing to stay here, or become attracted to the region,” Pollack wrote.
The video in the player above is from a previous report.
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