One in Ten Winter Olympians Comes From One College in Utah

Forbes magazine points out that college students across the U.S. gathered around their TVs Friday night to watch the opening ceremonies of the Sochi Winter Olympics, which got tepid reviews from most. The scene was a little different at Westminster College. The school organized a big Olympic viewing party with prizes of clothing and accessories from the U.S. ski team. Westminster students could also pick out 23 of their classmates in the U.S. procession entering Fisht Olympic Stadium. The Westminster contingent represents 10% of the 230 athletes on the U.S. Olympic team and more than any other school.

But one Olympian, one with a bronze medal around her neck, doesn't come from Utah. She comes from Remsen, New York !

Congratulations to Erin Hamlin !

Love, By The Numbers...Census Numbers, That Is...

Expressing one's love to another is a celebrated custom on Valentine's Day. Sweethearts and family members present gifts to one another, such as cards, candy, flowers and other symbols of affection. Opinions differ as to who was the original Valentine, but the most popular theory is that he was a clergyman who was executed for secretly marrying couples in ancient Rome. In A.D. 496, Pope Gelasius I declared Feb. 14 as Valentine Day. Esther Howland, a native of Massachusetts, is given credit for selling the first mass-produced valentine cards in the 1840s. The spirit continues today with even young children exchanging valentine's cards with their fellow classmates. Here's just a few of the Valentine's relevant numbers, as found through various Census resources.

Candy

1,148

♥ Number of U.S. manufacturing establishments that produced chocolate and cocoa products in 2011, employing 35,538 people. California led the nation with 122 of these establishments, followed by Pennsylvania, with 109.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns: 2011

440

♥ Number of U.S. establishments that manufactured nonchocolate confectionary products in 2011. These establishments employed 19,198 people. California led the nation in this category with 56 establishments.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns: 2011

$13.5 billion

♥ The estimated value of shipments in 2011 for firms producing chocolate and cocoa products.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 Annual Survey of Manufactures, Products and Services
♥ Non-chocolate confectionery product manufacturing, meanwhile, was an estimated $8.4 billion industry.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 Annual Survey of Manufactures, Products and Services

3,320

♥ Number of confectionery and nut stores in the United States in 2011.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns

Government and Private Employees In New York State

Unfortunately I do not have a lot of information about Andy Arthur, who made the maps below, but they are an interesting look at the state, local and private workforce as percentages of those employed across New York State. The maps appear to use the block group level of census geography and I think they are made with 2012 Five Year ACS estimates. Regardless, they represent a unique look at employment patterns across the state.

State Government Employees

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Local Government Employees 

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 Private Sector Employees 

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County to County Migration Data: Regional Gains and Losses

In a given year, about 6 percent of the U.S. population picks up and changes counties. Young families move from Chicago to the surrounding suburbs. Recent college graduates cross the country for a first job in Boston, or Washington, D.C. Retirees relocate for good down to the Sunbelt.

If you could track all of these moves simultaneously across time, you'd get a picture of the parts of the country that are net population gainers, and those that are losing people instead. That picture would look like this:

 

The Atlantic Cities website does a nice job of explaining the new data flow mapper available at the Census Bureau for tracking these changes in migration. I would encourage you to read their article about this new function.

In the meantime, we have seen an overall gain in migration for our region, with a net increase of 2,800 people in this new data release. Unfortunately both counties haven't seen equal good fortune however. As the table below shows, in Oneida County there was a gain of about 3,558 migrants - with other NYS counties providing the bulk of the in-migration. Herkimer County, on the other hand has seen a net migration of minus 758, with those mostly split between other NYS counties and other US states.

 

 

Overall, then, where are our new neighbors coming from? And where did our old neighbors go? Here's the top 10 migration patterns for in-, out-, and net-migration for each county. Note that there are separate tables for the top states people came or went to, as well as the top counties in NYS for which they did the same.

Who Still Smokes In America ?

With the announcement yesterday that CVS will no longer sell tobacco products at its stores, the question of who this potentially impacts might be of interest. The CNN Money page recently released an infographic depicting the characteristics of American smokers, and I've attached it below.

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