Misc

Chart: The Population Rank of Every U.S. State Over 100 Years

Published

6 years ago

February 7, 2018

Jeff Desjardins

The Population Rank of Every U.S. State Over 100 Years

“Go west, young man, and grow up with the country.”

Popularized by Horace Greeley, the editor of the New-York Tribune, these words formed one of the great catchphrases at the height of the Manifest Destiny era in the 19th century.

Although that period is still a few chapters back in the history books, the fact is the West Coast is still relatively new today. Los Angeles was only incorporated in 1850, Portland in 1851, and Seattle in 1869.

And throughout the 20th century – Americans were moving westward in droves, ultimately culminating in California taking over the title of the most populous state in the union by the year 1960.

Population Rank by State

Today’s visualization is a bump chart from Aaron Penne, and it shows the population rank of U.S. states and D.C. over the timeframe of a century (1917-2017) using data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

When a state passes another in population in a given year, it “bumps” the other state from that place in the ranking. Big movers are also highlighted in orange (up) and black (down) on the graph.

Let’s look at the numbers for the first year on the graph, which is 1917:

Rank	State	Population (1917)
#1	New York	9,993,000
#2	Pennsylvania	8,578,000
#3	Illinois	6,313,000
#4	Ohio	5,510,000
#5	Texas	4,563,000
#6	Massachusetts	3,738,000
#7	Missouri	3,470,000
#8	Michigan	3,451,000
#9	California	3,171,000
#10	New Jersey	2,976,000
#11	Indiana	2,910,000
#12	Georgia	2,885,000
#13	Wisconsin	2,587,000
#14	North Carolina	2,546,000
#15	Kentucky	2,421,000
#16	Iowa	2,382,000
#17	Alabama	2,361,000
#18	Tennessee	2,331,000
#19	Minnesota	2,329,000
#20	Virginia	2,313,000
#21	Oklahoma	1,960,000
#22	Mississippi	1,820,000
#23	Lousiana	1,795,000
#24	Kansas	1,748,000
#25	Arkansas	1,737,000
#26	South Carolina	1,675,000
#27	West Virginia	1,439,000
#28	Maryland	1,428,000
#29	Connecticut	1,327,000
#30	Washington	1,287,000
#31	Nebraska	1,285,000
#32	Colorado	910,000
#33	Florida	895,000
#34	Maine	777,000
#35	Oregon	763,000
#36	North Dakota	661,000
#37	Rhode Island	606,000
#38	South Dakota	599,000
#39	Montana	505,000
#40	New Hampshire	447,000
#41	Utah	444,000
#42	Idaho	413,000
#43	District of Columbia	385,000
#44	Vermont	372,000
#45	New Mexico	361,000
#46	Arizona	311,000
#47	Delaware	222,000
#48	Wyoming	186,000
#49	Nevada	81,000

New York led the pack with just short of 10 million people, which made up 10% of the population of the country as a whole. Meanwhile, California had only 3.2 million people – and amazingly, Nevada only had 81,000 people in 1917.

Now let’s jump forward 50 years to 1967, when the U.S. population was closer to 200 million.

Rank	State	Population (1967)
#1	California	19,176,000
#2	New York	17,935,000
#3	Pennsylvania	11,681,000
#4	Illinois	10,947,000
#5	Texas	10,599,000
#6	Ohio	10,414,000
#7	Michigan	8,630,000
#8	New Jersey	6,928,000
#9	Florida	6,242,000
#10	Massachusetts	5,594,000
#11	Indiana	5,053,000
#12	North Carolina	4,952,000
#13	Missouri	4,539,000
#14	Virginia	4,508,000
#15	Georgia	4,408,000
#16	Wisconsin	4,303,000
#17	Tennessee	3,859,000
#18	Maryland	3,757,000
#19	Minnesota	3,659,000
#20	Louisiana	3,581,000
#21	Alabama	3,458,000
#22	Washington	3,174,000
#23	Kentucky	3,172,000
#24	Connecticut	2,935,000
#25	Iowa	2,793,000
#26	South Carolina	2,533,000
#27	Oklahoma	2,489,000
#28	Mississippi	2,228,000
#29	Kansas	2,197,000
#30	Colorado	2,053,000
#31	Oregon	1,979,000
#32	Arkansas	1,901,000
#33	West Virginia	1,769,000
#34	Arizona	1,646,000
#35	Nebraska	1,457,000
#36	Utah	1,019,000
#37	Maine	1,004,000
#38	New Mexico	1,000,000
#39	Rhode Island	909,000
#40	District of Columbia	791,000
#41	Hawaii	723,000
#42	Montana	701,000
#43	New Hampshire	697,000
#44	Idaho	688,000
#45	South Dakota	671,000
#46	North Dakota	626,000
#47	Delaware	525,000
#48	Nevada	449,000
#49	Vermont	423,000
#50	Wyoming	322,000
#51	Alaska	278,000

In just half of a century, California gained 16 million people, and jumped to the #1 spot in the process. That’s a 504% increase over its 1917 population.

The Largest Increases in Population

For a final table data, we’ll show you the 2017 state populations compared to the 1917 state populations.

The table is sorted by the percentage increase over the course of that 100 years of time.

Rank	State	Population (1917)	Population (2017)	% Increase
#1	Nevada	81,000	2,998,039	3,601%
#2	Florida	895,000	20,984,400	2,245%
#3	Arizona	311,000	7,016,270	2,156%
#4	California	3,171,000	39,536,653	1,147%
#5	Utah	444,000	3,101,833	599%
#6	Texas	4,563,000	28,304,596	520%
#7	Colorado	910,000	5,607,154	516%
#8	New Mexico	361,000	2,088,070	478%
#9	Washington	1,287,000	7,405,743	475%
#10	Oregon	763,000	4,142,776	443%
#11	Delaware	222,000	961,939	333%
#12	Maryland	1,428,000	6,052,177	324%
#13	Idaho	413,000	1,716,943	316%
#14	North Carolina	2,546,000	10,273,419	304%
#15	Virginia	2,313,000	8,470,020	266%
#16	Georgia	2,885,000	10,429,379	262%
#17	Wyoming	186,000	579,315	211%
#18	New Jersey	2,976,000	9,005,644	203%
#19	New Hampshire	447,000	1,342,795	200%
#20	South Carolina	1,675,000	5,024,369	200%
#21	Michigan	3,451,000	9,962,311	189%
#22	Tennessee	2,331,000	6,715,984	188%
#23	Connecticut	1,327,000	3,588,184	170%
#24	Lousiana	1,795,000	4,684,333	161%
#25	Minnesota	2,329,000	5,576,606	139%
#26	Indiana	2,910,000	6,666,818	129%
#27	Wisconsin	2,587,000	5,795,483	124%
#28	Ohio	5,510,000	11,658,609	112%
#29	Montana	505,000	1,050,493	108%
#30	Alabama	2,361,000	4,874,747	106%
#31	Illinois	6,313,000	12,802,023	103%
#32	Oklahoma	1,960,000	3,930,864	101%
#33	New York	9,993,000	19,849,399	99%
#34	Kentucky	2,421,000	4,454,189	84%
#35	Massachusetts	3,738,000	6,859,819	84%
#36	District of Columbia	385,000	693,972	80%
#37	Missouri	3,470,000	6,113,532	76%
#38	Rhode Island	606,000	1,059,639	75%
#39	Arkansas	1,737,000	3,004,279	73%
#40	Maine	777,000	1,335,907	72%
#41	Vermont	372,000	623,657	68%
#42	Kansas	1,748,000	2,913,123	67%
#43	Mississippi	1,820,000	2,984,100	64%
#44	Nebraska	1,285,000	1,920,076	49%
#45	Pennsylvania	8,578,000	12,805,537	49%
#46	South Dakota	599,000	869,666	45%
#47	Iowa	2,382,000	3,145,711	32%
#48	West Virginia	1,439,000	1,815,857	26%
#49	North Dakota	661,000	755,393	14%
#50	Alaska		739,795	n/a
#51	Hawaii		1,427,538	n/a

Not surprisingly, Nevada takes the cake with a 3,601% gain, going from 81,000 people to today’s 2,998,039.

Meanwhile, North Dakota had the smallest gain – it only added 14% more people over a whole century of time.

Related Topics:united states population states rank data viz bump chart

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Misc

Ranked: America’s Best Universities

Evaluated on 19 different metrics, here’s the list of America’s best universities, led by 14 private schools.

Published

5 days ago

November 25, 2023

Pallavi Rao

Ranked: America’s Best Universities

The latest ranking of America’s best universities is here, perfectly timed for the approaching admissions season.

“Best” is of course subjective, and U.S. News and World Report has compiled 19 metrics on which they evaluated more than 400 national universities. Some of them include:

Graduation rates & performance: A four-year rolling average of the proportion of each entering class earning a bachelor’s degree in six years or less. Performance is measured against predictions made by the publishers, and when beaten, the university gains a higher scoring.
Peer assessment: A two-year weighted average of ratings from top academics—presidents, provosts and deans of admissions—on academic quality of peer institutions with which they are familiar.
Financial resources: The average per student spend on instruction, research, student services and related educational expenditures in the 2021 fiscal year.
Debt: A school’s average accumulated federal loan debt among borrowers only.
Pell graduation rates & performance: the same calculation as stated above, but focused only on Pell Grant students, adjusted to give more credit to schools with larger Pell student proportions.

The website’s methodology section details how they sourced their data, the weights assigned to each metric, and their changes over the years.

From the hundreds assessed come the nearly 50 best universities that offer a variety of undergraduate majors, post-graduate programs, emphasize research, or award professional practice doctorates.

Which are the Best Universities in America?

At the top of the list, Princeton University is the best university in the country, known for its physics, economics, and international relations departments. Notably, it’s a rare Ivy league university that does not have a law, medical, or business school.

Here’s the full ranking of America’s best universities, along with annual tuition requirements.

Rank	School Name	State	Tuition
1	Princeton University	New Jersey	$59,710
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Massachusetts	$60,156
3	Harvard University	Massachusetts	$59,076
3	Stanford University	California	$62,484
5	Yale University	Connecticut	$64,700
6	University of Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania	$66,104
7	California Institute of Technology	California	$63,255
7	Duke University	North Carolina	$66,172
9	Brown University	Rhode Island	$68,230
9	Johns Hopkins University	Maryland	$63,340
9	Northwestern University	Illinois	$65,997
12	Columbia University	New York	$65,524
12	Cornell University	New York	$66,014
12	University of Chicago	Illinois	$65,619
15	University of California, Berkeley	California	$48,465 (out-state) $15,891 (in-state)
15	University of California, LA	California	$46,326 (out-state) $13,752 (in-state)
17	Rice University	Texas	$58,128
18	Dartmouth College	New Hampshire	$65,511
18	Vanderbilt University	Tennessee	$63,946
20	University of Notre Dame	Indiana	$62,693
21	University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	Michigan	$57,273 (out-state) $17,786 (in-state)
22	Georgetown University	Washington, DC	$65,082
22	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	North Carolina	$39,338 (out-state) $8,998 (in-state)
24	Carnegie Mellon University	Pennsylvania	$63,829
24	Emory University	Georgia	$60,774
24	University of Virginia	Virginia	$58,950 (out-state) $22,323 (in-state)
24	Washington University, St. Louis	Missouri	$62,982
28	University of California, Davis	California	$46,043 (out-state) $15,266 (in-state)
28	University of California, San Diego	California	$48,630 (out-state) $16,056 (in-state)
28	University of Florida	Florida	$28,658 (out-state) $6,381 (in-state)
28	University of Southern California	California	$68,237
32	University of Texas, Austin	Texas	$41,070 (out-state) $11,698 (in-state)
33	Georgia Institute of Technology	Georgia	$32,876 (out-state) $11,764 (in-state)
33	University of California, Irvine	California	$47,759 (out-state) $15,185 (in-state)
35	New York University	New York	$60,438
35	University of California, Santa Barbara	California	$45,658 (out-state) $14,881 (in-state)
35	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	Illinois	$36,068 (out-state) $17,572 (in-state)
35	University of Wisconsin, Madison	Wisconsin	$40,603 (out-state) $11,205 (in-state)
39	Boston College	Massachusetts	$67,680
40	Rutgers University, New Brunswick	New Jersey	$36,001 (out-state) $17,239 (in-state)
40	Tufts University	Massachusetts	$67,844
40	University of Washington	Washington	$41,997 (out-state) $12,643 (in-state)
43	Boston University	Massachusetts	$65,168
43	The Ohio State University	Ohio	$36,722 (out-state) $12,485 (in-state)
43	Purdue University, Main Campus	Indiana	$28,794 (out-state) $9,992 (in-state)
46	University of Maryland, College Park	Maryland	$40,306 (out-state) $11,505 (in-state)
47	Lehigh University	Pennsylvania	$62,180
47	Texas A&M University	Texas	$40,607 (out-state) $12,413 (in-state)
47	University of Georgia	Georgia	$30,220 (out-state) $11,180 (in-state)
47	University of Rochester	New York	$64,384
47	Virginia Tech	Virginia	$36,090 (out-state) $15,478 (in-state)
47	Wake Forest University	North Carolina	$64,758
53	Case Western Reserve University	Ohio	$62,234
53	Florida State University	Florida	$21,683 (out-state) $6,517 (in-state)
53	Northeastern University	Massachusetts	$63,141
53	University of Minnesota, Twin Cities	Minnesota	$36,402 (out-state) $16,488 (in-state)
53	William & Mary	Virginia	$48,841 (out-state) $25,041 (in-state)

MIT places second, and Harvard and Stanford tie for third. Yale rounds out the top five.

Private universities, including seven Ivy League colleges, dominate the top of the rankings. Meanwhile, the highest-ranked public schools are tied at 15th, both state schools in California.

For affordability, since the higher ranks are populated by private universities, there tends to be a broad correlation of better universities being more expensive. That said, the most expensive school in the top 50 ranks is actually the University of Southern California, tied at 28th, for $68,237/year.

As it happens, also tied at 28th, the University of Florida is the most affordable public school for in-state students ($6,381/year) and Florida State University tied at 53rd, is the most affordable for out-of-staters at $21,683/year.

However these costs are tuition-only, and don’t account for other necessary expenses: accommodation, food, and textbooks.

Best University versus Best “Fit”

Finding the best university for prospective students is more than just perusing a long ranking list.

Aside from the numerous schools present within each university—which can often be the best for specific majors—factors like location, proximity to family, campus culture, the non-academic pursuits (sports, extracurriculars, internships) are also taken into consideration.

In fact, research has found that just attaining a university degree improves future earnings potential and employability.

Furthermore, individual engagement at college (irrespective of the rank of the school in question) plays a far bigger role in learning and general well-being than simply attending a highly-ranked school.

However, for low income and minority students, attending a top-ranked school does improve future earnings considerably. For women, it also often results in delaying marriage and kids, which results in more work-hours and as a result, more pay.