Goodbye Starter Reports

Photo by Renee Fisher on Unsplash

Summary

Starter Reports have gone away. If you are a Starter Report customer, thank you! And I’m sorry. Check out the US Census Bureau’s Narrative Profiles as an alternative.

Background

In 2009, my co-founder, Anthony, and I quit our day jobs to build a web app for environmental engineers to pull demographic data. But after spending over $10,000, months of development work and cold calling over 1,000 environmental engineers, we came to the painful realization that the engineers didn’t want the app that we had built.

So we ran a small experiment.

We’d been getting a lot of web traffic to some city and county landing pages that we’d put up on our website to attract engineers. We were trying to introduce ourselves, like new companies do, using our (data) expertise. We didn’t want to build something that no-one wanted again, so this time, we put up a Buy Now button connected to nothing so we could measure if our visitors were even interested in paying money for demographics.

And you guys clicked the button. A lot of times. 

So the next day, we added a price next to the button. Every time a person clicked on the Buy Now button, they’d get a “We’re Sorry” message. But you kept clicking. We added and changed small details until we figured out people were looking to purchase a report with demographics for a city or county. We called those reports Starter Reports, because they were a good start in looking at demographics for a geography.

In the beginning, delivering Starter Reports was a manual process. Whenever someone bought a report, Anthony would rush to his computer to generate the report and then manually email it out in 5 minutes. After he had enough of waking up the middle of the night to send reports, he automated the delivery of these reports. And there it was: Cubit’s first successful product. We’ve updated the Starter Reports with new Census data and sold them for almost 10 years.

I tell you this long story to explain why it was a difficult decision for Anthony and me to stop selling Starter Reports. It wasn’t because we made a lot of money from them recently. Years ago, we discovered far more of you guys need spreadsheets with demographics for lots geographies (e.g. all cities in Texas) rather than a report about 1 geography (e.g. the city of Houston).

You see, Starter Reports took us from dew-eyed start up founders to business owners. Yes, they were our first successful product and that initial success gave us permission and courage to keep developing other data products. But more importantly, that Buy Now button taught us HOW to develop products. That is, don’t go build the thing that you want. Instead figure out how to sell a product and what the product is at the same time by interacting with customers. Some better-marketers-than-us call this process Lean Product Development, and this is the book about it that I still carry around with me in my laptop bag today if you want to avoid our mistakes.

But in continuing to talk to you over the years, we’ve got new ideas for products that we’re excited to develop. As a tiny team, we have to say no to something (that is: Starter Report development, updates & support) to free up our time to pursue the biggest opportunities. You know, the ones that make us excited to get out of bed and get to work on Monday mornings.

So Starter Reports will no longer be available for purchase. To everyone who bought one in the past: thank you. Truly. Your vote of confidence was at least as valuable as the money that you paid for these reports. And if you check out the Census’ Narrative Profiles and they won’t replace Starter Reports for your purposes, email me back and we’ll brainstorm other options.

Votes Count! 56 Favorite Data Sources for Voter Statistics and Demographics

I’m starting to get requests for voting statistics as custom data pulls for early analyses for redistricting projects. Below is a roundup of my favorite sources of demographic data for voting-related projects. One note: the resources below don’t cover individual voter records. This list below is for voter data for geographic regions like all voters in a congressional district or in a county. Valuable insights start jumping out when you combine these datasets like combining Election Results data with Voter Age Population Demographics from the Census’ American Community Survey.

Table of Contents

NameSourcePriceGeographies
Registered Voters & Election ResultsState, County & City websitesFree1 state, 1 county, 1 city
Voter Age Population DemographicsCensus’s American Community SurveyFreeAll US Geographies – large & small
Registered VotersCensus’s Current Population SurveyFreeStates & MSAs
Election ResultsDave Leip’s Atlas of US Presidential Elections$All US Counties & CDs
U.S Citizen Voting Age DemographicsSocial Explorer$Some large & small US geographies
Custom Data PullCubit$All US geographies – large & small

  1. Registered Voters & Election Results for Single Geographic Areas
  • Price: Free
  • Geographies: 1 State, 1 county or 1 city

If you need state-level voting statistics, below is a collection of state agencies with registered voter and election results data. Because we’re often pulling voter demographics, I included notes about any demographic data that we’ve found for voters on the states’ websites in the Types of Data section in the table below.

Name Types of Data
Alabama Secretary of State / Elections Data Voter Registration Statistics by Race; Election Results by Race, Age & Gender
Alaska Division of Elections / Statistics Registration by Party & Age; Voter Turnout by Age, Gender & Party; Election Results
Arizona Secretary of State / Voter Registration Voter Registration Statistics by Party; Election Results
Arkansas Secretary of State / Elections / Research Registered Voters; Election Results
California Secretary of State / Election / Voter Information Voter Registration Statistics by Age Range and Political Bodies; Qualified Political Parties
Colorado Secretary of State / Voter Registration Voter Registration by Status, Party, Gender, Age
Connecticut Secretary of the State / Election / Voter Information Elections Results and Turnout Statistics; Voter Registration Statistics
District of Columbia / Board of Elections Voter Registration Statistics Monthly Report
State of Delaware / Department of Elections / Office of the State Election Commissioner Registered Voter Totals by Month; Election Results
Florida Division of Elections / Data & Statistics Election Data / Results; Voter Registration Statistics; Monthly Reports; Voter Turnout
Georgia Secretary of State / Elections Active Voters by Race and Gender; Election Results; Turnout by Demographics; Candidate Information
State of Hawaii Office of Elections Election Results; Registered Voters; Voter Turnout
Idaho Secretary of State’s Office / Elections Office Voter Registration  
Illinois State Board of Elections Election Information / Results; Voting Information; Election Results / Vote Totals
Indiana Secretary of State / Election Division Election Results; Voter Registration and Turnout Statistics
Iowa Secretary of State / Elections / Research and Data Election Results and Statistics; Voter Registration
Kansas Secretary of State / Elections Election Statistics / Results; Candidate Lists
Commonwealth of Kentucky / State Board of Elections Election Results; Registration Statistics; Primary Voter Turnout by Age, Gender, Party
Louisiana Secretary of State / Elections & Voting Registration Statistics by Race; Graphical Election Results
Maine Department of the Secretary of State / Bureau of Corporations, Elections & Commissions Election Results; Registered & Enrolled Voters
Maryland The State Board of Elections Voter Registration Statistics by Month; Active Voters; Election Results; Official Turnout by Party; Candidate Lists
Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts / Election/ Voting / Elections Division Election Results; Registered Voter Enrollment; Voter Turnout Statistics; Candidate Lists;
Michigan Office of Secretary of State / Elections Candidate Listings and Election Results; Registered Voter Count
Minnesota Secretary of State / Election Administration & Campaigns / Data & Maps Election Results; Voter Registration; Voter Turnout by Age Group
Mississippi Secretary of State / Online Voter Information Center Election Results
Missouri Secretary of State / Elections & Voting Registered Voters; Election Results; Voter Turn Out
Montana Secretary of State / Election & Voter Services Official Election Results; Voter Registration; Official Turnout Results
Nebraska Secretary of State / Elections Number of Registered Voters by Party; Election Official Results
Nevada Secretary of State / Elections Voter Registration by Age & Party; Voter Registration; Election Turnout
New Hampshire Secretary of State / Elections Division State Election Results; Party Registration/Names on Checklist History
New Jersey Division of Elections / Election Information & Results Summary of Registered Voters and Ballot Cast; Election Results; Voter Registration
New Mexico Secretary of State / Voting & Elections Election Results; Voter Registration Statistics / Data
New York State Board of Elections Election Results; Voter Enrollment by Party Affiliation and Status
North Carolina State Board of Elections Election Results; Voter Registration Statistics by Party by Race by Sex
North Dakota Secretary of State / Elections Election Results; Statistics & Turnout from Past Elections
Ohio Secretary of State / Elections and Voting Election Results; Voter Turnout
Oklahoma State Election Board Voter Registration; Election Results
Oregon Secretary of State / Voting & Elections Voter Registration by Year / Month; Elections Historical Turnout; Statewide Election Results
Pennsylvania Department of State / Voting & Elections Voter Registration Statistics; Election Results
Rhode Island Secretary of State / Voter Information State of Rhode Island Board of Elections Registered Voters; History of Voter Turnout; Voter Turnout by Generation; Election Results
South Carolina Election Commission / Results & Statistics Voter Registration; Election Results
South Dakota Secretary of State / Elections & Voting Election Results; Voter Registration Totals by Party
Tennessee Secretary of State / Elections Voter Registration; Voter Turnout; Election Results
Texas Secretary of State / Elections Turnout and Voter Registration; Election Results
Utah Lieutenant Governor / Elections Voters by Party and Status; Election Results
Vermont Secretary of State / Elections Voter Registration Totals; Election Results; Voter Registration, Turnout, and Absentee Voter Statistics
Virginia Department of Elections / Results / Reports Registrant Counts; Election Results; Registration/Turnout Statistics
Washington Secretary of State / Elections / Research Election Results; Registered Voters by Age; Registered Votes by Gender; Registered Voters by Age Group
West Virginia Secretary of State / Elections Division Election Results / Turnout; Candidate Listing by Office; Voter Turnout Data; Voter Registration Totals
Wisconsin Election Commission / Elections Election Results; Voter Registration Statistics; Voter Turnout Statistics
Wyoming Secretary of State / Elections Voter Registration Statistics; Voter Turnout Statistics; Election Results

If you need voting stats for small geographic areas like counties or cities, many counties make voter statistics available on their website. For example, the following breakdown by Party and Language that’s on Alameda County’s website.

source: acgov.org

2. Voter Age Population Demographics: Census’ American Community Survey

  • Price: Free
  • Geographies: All US Geographies from large like states & counties to small like zips, Census tracts, & block groups

While you can’t get registered voter counts from the Census’ American Community Survey, this dataset has the most current demographics for the voting age population. The most current US Census data is 2017 data, and the 2018 data will be released in December 2019. While you can get American Community Survey demographics for large geographies like congressional districts, you can also get this data for small geographies like zip codes and Census tracts (4,000ish people). These small geographies are particularly helpful if you want to visualize the makeup of a larger geography. You can download this data from census.gov and get the following popular demographics.

Age, Sex, Race/Ethnicity

  • Example: voting age population by age and sex

  • Example: voting age population by age, sex and race/ethnicity. In this example, we are displaying Hispanic or Latino but other races & ethnicities are available as well. 

Income

Voting age population by income is tricky, because the income categories are for households (not individuals), and because the Census publishes data for householders under 25 (which kind of makes sense if you think about how few 18 years olds are working jobs but under 25 years doesn’t align nicely to voting ages). But you can get income data by age of householder for the following age breakdowns:

  • Householder under 25 years
  • Householder 25 to 44 years
  • Householder 45 to 64 years
  • Householder 65 years and over

You can get the above data income data by age of householders by race/ethnicity, but I would suggest only getting this data for large geographies like counties because the margins of error will be too large for the small geographies.  Below is a sample of income by age of householder data for a county for the first 2 age brackets. You can also get median income rather than a distribution here. 

There are thousands and thousands of other data points that can be pulled from the American Community Survey (see 2017 ACS Detailed Table Shells), but the ones listed above (age, sex, race/ethnicity and income) are the most popular for voting demographic projects that we’ve done in the past.

When you overlay the above Census tract demographics on top of voting precinct boundaries in a map, you can identify areas with low voter registration. Sometimes, Census tracts and voting precincts line up, so that you can easily compare the Census’ population estimates with the number of registered voters of a precinct. But even when the voting precincts don’t perfectly align with Census tract, we can help you calculate the percent overlap for precincts and Census tracts to estimate the demographics for the precincts. In the map of Miami-Dade County Voting Precincts and Census tracts below, you can see examples of when Census tracts and precinct align and examples of when the boundaries don’t align.


3. Registered Voters: Census’ Current Population Survey

  • Price: Free
  • Geographies: states and metropolitan statistical areas

You can get registered voter data from the US Census using their Current Population Survey dataset. I like to use the Current Population Survey for the total population for cities, counties and states, but you can also use this dataset to get registered voter data for large geographies like metropolitan statistical areas and states. This dataset is the most technically challenging dataset to work with in this list, and here’s what you need to do.

  1. For the raw microdata, go here:  https://thedataweb.rm.census.gov/ftp/cps_ftp.html?#
    1. click on CPS Supplement
    2. On the top rows, you will see the Technical Documentation and the microdata files (DOS/Windows preferred).
  2. After downloading, to read in the ascii file, you’ll have to write your own program, using the Record Layout given in the Tech Doc.
    1. An alternative to writing your own program. The NBER site does not have the Nov 2018 file, but does have the Nov 2016.  You may be able to use the data definition statement file for Nov 2016, as there were no changes to the variables or locations.  Certain values, however, did change.   To obtain this data definition statement file, go here:   https://data.nber.org/data/cps_progs.html then scroll down to Nov 2016 Voting and Registration.  Select the software of your choice (SAS, SPSS, Stata).  Download the file.  This will convert the ascii file to a SAS/SPSS/Stata file.
  3. Variables you will definitely need to work with are:  GESTFIPS, GTCBSA, PRTAGE, PRPERTYP, PRCITSHP, PES1, PES2.
  4. Be sure to read these parts of the Tech Doc:  Attachments 1, 3, 6, 7, 8.
  5. Main universe for the supplement:   PRTAGE = 18+  and PRCITSHP = 1,2,3,4.
  6. Condition for being registered to vote:   PES1 = 1  OR  PES2 = 1.

4. Election Results (and County Registration & Turnout data): US Election Atlas

  • Price: Depends on the dataset, but I tend to spend at least $200
  • Geographies: All Counties & Congressional Districts in the US

For election results for the entire US, I tend to purchase the 2016 President by County dataset from Dave Leip’s Atlas of US Presidential Elections. Below are some images showing results by state, but county results tend to be more popular. The last time we worked with the Governor Election dataset, there were many states that didn’t have governor election data at the county level.

There’s also voter registration and turnout data by county for the entire US – which sounds interesting, but I haven’t had a chance to work with this data yet. I would like to though. Just waiting for the right project.


5. U.S. Citizen Voting Age Demographics by Age: Social Explorer

  • Price: Free trial, then $100 a month for individuals
  • Geographies: states, counties, cities, census tracts, block groups, congressional districts, state legislative districts

Social Explorer is a web application that lets you pull and map certain datasets. I don’t use Social Explorer often, because we have in-house tools and mapping software that are more flexible. BUT they do have a Citizen Voting Age Population Special Tabulation based on the most current US Census’ American Community Survey. You can get data on:

  • Race
  • Citizens by Race
  • Citizenship status
  • Total Seats in the state
  • District Size Deviation based on different bases
  • Citizen of Voting Age

If you need some of the more popular demographics like voting age population by race or by age and you don’t already know how to pull this data from census.gov, you could sign up for a free trial of Social Explorer to see if it’s the right tool for your project. 


6. Custom Data Pull | Cubit

  • Price: Starts at $599
  • Geographies: All US Geographies from large geographics like states & counties to small geographies like zips, Census tracts, & block

Whew! Still reading? I’m impressed.

So if you’ve gotten this far and you’re thinking, “Yeah, sure I could pull all of this data myself in a couple of days, but I have other important things to do and I really don’t want to sift through all of the data dictionaries, methodology statements and tool instructions to make sure that I have the most current data for my area of interest,” you are not alone. You sound just like our other clients at Cubit who depend on us to provide clean, accurate and easy-to-work-with data as well as human-to-human customer support. You can get voting data, as well as hundreds of other data points, in a custom data pull. Prices start at $599 with a 3 business day turnaround. Tell me what data you need for what geography & I’ll get you a free quote & turnaround estimate.

Don’t see the voting stats that you are looking for in the post above? Contact me. I have a couple of other sources that either aren’t as popular or change with too much frequency for me to include in this roundup.

Conversely, do you have a favorite voter statistics resource that isn’t on my list? Please let me know so I can share it with others.


52 Sources of Traffic Counts and AADT Data

Photo by Jake Blucker on Unsplash

Updated: 11/2021. The only time of year that I’m actually happy about traffic is when we get updated traffic data for our reports. Below are 52 of my favorite sources of traffic data that you can use to visualize the AADT or annual average daily traffic that drives past your business (yay!) or past your home (boo!). Let’s start with a table of traffic count data sources from state departments of transportation — DOTs for short.

State DOT Traffic Counts Resources

State DOT Name & LinkMost Current AADT/ADT Year in Interactive MapNotes
Alabama DOT Traffic2020 AADT
Alaska DOT Traffic2020 AADT
Arizona DOT Traffic2020 (some) AADT
Arkansas DOT Traffic2020 ADTStatic maps by county here
California DOT Traffic2019 AADTTabular data here
Colorado DOT Traffic2020 AADT Other source here
Connecticut DOT Traffic2019 (some) AADT
Washington DC DOT Traffic2019 AADT
Delaware DOT Traffic2020 AADT
Florida DOT Traffic2020 AADTCan download shapefile here
Georgia DOT Traffic2020 (some) AADTOther source here
Hawaii DOT Traffic2020 AADT
Idaho DOT Traffic2019 AADT
Illinois DOT Traffic2019 (some) ADTStatic traffic map here
Indiana DOT Traffic2020 AADTCan download shapefiles here
Iowa DOT Traffic2019 (some) AADTStatic maps here
Kansas DOT Traffic2020 AADTOther map here
Kentucky DOT Traffic2020 (some) AADT
Louisana DOT Traffic2020 (some) AADT
Maine2019 (some) AADT
Maryland DOT Traffic2020 AADTStatic map here
Massachusetts DOT Traffic2020 AADT
Michigan DOT Traffic2020 AADT
Minnesota DOT Traffic2020 (some) AADTStatic maps & shapefile here
Mississippi DOT Traffic2019 ADT
Missouri DOT Traffic2020 AADT
Montana DOT Traffic2020 AADT
Nebraska DOT Traffic2020 AADTOther resource here
Nevada DOT Traffic2020 AADTStatic maps here
New Hampshire DOT Traffic2020 AADT
New Jersey DOT Traffic2019 (some) AADTCan download shapefile here
New Mexico DOT Traffic2021 (some) AADTStatic maps here
New York DOT Traffic2019 AADTCan download shapefile here
North Carolina DOT Traffic2019 AADTCan download shapefile; Static map available
North Dakota DOT Traffic2020 (some) AADT Static map here
Ohio DOT Traffic2020 AADT
Oklahoma DOT Traffic2020 AADTCan download shapefile here
Oregon DOT Traffic2019 AADT
Pennsylvania DOT Traffic2020 AADTStatic maps here
Rhode Island DOT Traffic2016 AADT
South Carolina DOT Traffic2020 AADT
South Dakota DOT Traffic2020 ADT
Tennessee DOT Traffic2021 (some) AADT
Texas DOT Traffic2020 AADT
Utah DOT Traffic2019 AADTData in KMZ file
Vermont DOT Traffic2020 (some) AADT
Virginia DOT Traffic2020 ADT
Washington DOT Traffic2020 AADT
West Virginia DOT Traffic2017 (some) AADTOther map here
Wisconsin DOT Traffic2020(some) AADT
Wyoming DOT Traffic2019 AADT

The DOT datasets above hit the data sleuthing jackpot in that they are free traffic count data sources as well as trustworthy and fairly current. If you have to have 2021 data, skip to the What traffic count data do we use in Cubit’s reports & maps? section below. It can be a bit of pain to incorporate DOT traffic data into your business documents, but it’s nothing that you can’t solve with a good GIS (mapping software) or worst-case scenario, a screen capture tool. 

Need traffic counts for the entire US?

DOT traffic count data are by definition just for 1 state, but some projects require multi-state traffic counts. The Federal Highway Administration provides spatial data for traffic counts for the entire US. The last time I emailed them (November 2021), the shapefiles contained 2019 AADT. I really like the FHWA data, but what I hear from my clients is that there’s a huge learning curve to working with shapefiles. So if you aren’t already familiar with shapefiles, consider sticking with the state DOT resources in the table above or working with us at Cubit to build you a custom map with traffic data.

Don’t have time to learn about AADT, GIS, shapefiles, etc.?

I hear you! Sure, you could pull traffic data yourself. Or for $124, you can get a radius report with traffic data. In fact, our clients order more traffic data reports than any other radius report customization – it’s that popular! Since 2009, these same clients outsource these data pulling tasks and research to us at Cubit so they can focus on building their businesses. 

What traffic count data do we use in Cubit’s reports & maps?

Unlike most of our demographic data that comes directly from government data sources, we use current (2021) traffic estimates from Kalibrate, a private data vendor, first because:

  1. Kalibrate sources their data from public & private data sources. This means that for certain areas, they have more traffic counts than public data sources alone.
  2. Kalibrate’s data are consistent across states. If you need a radius report in New York City where you want to see traffic counts for both New York and New Jersey, your traffic data will be consistent rather than using 2020 New York data versus 2019 New Jersey data.

Second, if the Kalibrate traffic data doesn’t have enough current traffic counts for a particularly rural area, then we double-check with either the federal dataset or the state DOT datasets (above). So you get the best of both worlds – current data from a private data source supplemented by government data.

Got questions about traffic counts? Email me, because I’m here to help.


Top 100 Fastest Growing Cities in the US

Photo by Joey Csunyo on Unsplash

Check out this map of the 100 fastest growing cities with populations of 50,000 or greater in the US from 2013 to 2014.

The data are from the US Census Bureau’s 2014 Population Estimates that were released in May 2015.

The top 20 fastest growing US cities from 2013 to 2014 are listed in the Chart below.

# Geography Population
Estimate
(as of July 1)
Change,
2013 to 2014
2013 2014 Number %
1 San Marcos city,
Texas
54,567 58,892 4,325 7.9
2 Georgetown city,
Texas
54,934 59,102 4,168 7.6
3 Doral city, Florida 50,594 54,116 3,522 7
4 Frisco city, Texas 137,062 145,035 7,973 5.8
5 South Jordan city,
Utah
59,379 62,781 3,402 5.7
6 Conroe city, Texas 62,591 65,871 3,280 5.2
7 McKinney city,
Texas
149,168 156,767 7,599 5.1
8 Milpitas city,
California
70,110 73,672 3,562 5.1
9 Meridian city,
Idaho
83,515 87,743 4,228 5.1
10 Castle Rock
town, Colorado
53,152 55,747 2,595 4.9
11 Dublin city,
California
52,162 54,695 2,533 4.9
12 Irvine city,
California
237,111 248,531 11,420 4.8
13 New Braunfels
city, Texas
63,365 66,394 3,029 4.8
14 Pleasanton
city, California
74,248 77,682 3,434 4.6
15 Buckeyetown,
Arizona
56,899 59,470 2,571 4.5
16 Chino city,
California
81,083 84,723 3,640 4.5
17 Ankeny city,
Iowa
51,551 53,801 2,250 4.4
18 Lake Elsinore
city, California
57,542 60,029 2,487 4.3
19 Fort Myers city,
Florida
68,096 70,918 2,822 4.1
20 Mount Pleasant
town, South
Carolina
74,735 77,796 3,061 4.1

Download the top 100 city list as an Excel file.

Or if you need to look up the 2014 population for your city, you can find that data for free by clicking on your state and then navigation to your city: https://www.cubitplanning.com/data/quick-reports

Texas and California respectively contain 6 of the top 20 fastest growing Cities.

Top20GrowingCities_Pie

Since I live in central Texas (Austin to be precise), I’m not surprised to see San Marcos, Georgetown or New Braunfels on the above list. I’m seeing tremendous changes in the smaller cities surrounding Austin, especially as the housing prices & rent rates in Austin are increasing.

Got a question? Contact us.

Top 100 Fastest Growing Counties in the US

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Zoom around on this map to explore the 100 fastest growing counties in the US from 2013 to 2014.

The data are from the US Census Bureau’s 2014 Population Estimates that were released on March 26, 2015.

The top 20 fastest growing US counties from 2013 to 2014 are listed in the Chart below.

Rank Geography

Percent

Change,

2013 to 2014

1 Williams County, North Dakota 8.7
2 Stark County, North Dakota 7
3 Sumter County, Florida 5.4
4 Pickens County, Alabama 5.1
5 Hays County, Texas 4.8
6 Fort Bend County, Texas 4.7
7 Forsyth County, Georgia 4.6
8 Wasatch County, Utah 4.3
9 Comal County, Texas 4
10 Morgan County, Utah 4
11 St. Johns County, Florida 4
12 Andrews County, Texas 4
13 Montgomery County, Texas 3.8
14 Williamson County, Texas 3.8
15 Kendall County, Texas 3.8
16 Walton County, Florida 3.6
17 Dallas County, Iowa 3.6
18 Osceola County, Florida 3.6
19 Richland County, Montana 3.5
20 Loudoun County, Virginia 3.4
Source: US Census Bureau, 2014 Population Estimates, Released March 26, 2015.

Download the top 100 county list as an Excel file.

Or if you need to look up the 2014 population for your county, you can find that data for free by 1. clicking on your state and then 2. navigating to your county’s page starting here: https://www.cubitplanning.com/data/quick-reports

Texas contains 7 of the top 20 fastest growing counties while Florida has 4 counties.

PieChart_Top20FastestGrowingCounties

Source: US Census Bureau, 2014 Population Estimates, Released March 26, 2015.

Unsurprising: Texas and Florida
As a Central Texan who lives near to Hays, Comal & Williamson Counties, I’m not surprised to see these 3 counties in the top 20 fastest growing list. With solid job opportunities and a reasonable cost of living, continued population growth in Texas is likely.

As for Florida, I’d be interested to pull age data for the new residents. Is this Florida population growth due to Baby Boomer retirees, or are families and young couples moving there in search of job opportunities?

Surprising: North Dakota and Where’s California?
With 2 North Dakota counties at the top of the fastest 100 growing counties list, it appears that the North Dakota oil boom continued to attract workers through 2014. And surprisingly, no California counties appear in the top 20 list this year.

Got questions? Contact us.