South Leads Nation In Population And Population Growth

"More than half of the population growth in the USA in the past year occurred in southern states. The July 1 estimates also are the first to reflect Hurricane Katrina's devastation: Louisiana suffered a staggering net loss of 219,563 people, the largest annual decline in any state's population since troops were deployed during World War II."

"The South now attracts as many people from other countries as the West, partly because California's appeal is waning. "Immigrants are finally catching up to the fact that the South is a magnet for jobs and quality of life," says William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution. "They are tag-along migrants, taking jobs created by people who come from other parts of the U.S."

"The South now accounts for 36 percent of the nation's total population, with the West comprising 23 percent, the Midwest 22 percent and the Northeast 18 percent", according to the Census press release.