While many around the nation counted down to Santa's arrival, Social Explorer stayed up late last week waiting for the midnight release of the 2009 American Community Survey data.

This data represents the last nationwide survey before the 2010, and offers the most current data on the nation.  In the New York Times article "Recession Slows Population Rise Across Sun Belt," Damien Cave writes about the populations changes in different regions across the US.  One of the major implications of population shifts is the reallocation of congressional seats, particularly the declines in population among many northeastern and midwestern states.

In addition to supplying the data analysis for the article, Social Explorer's Andrew Beveridge also commented in the article, stating that, “The population trends are obviously now being shaped by this economic decline. The places that have had a really big decline economically, the states hit most heavily by the real estate crisis, have certainly had a real decline of people showing up there.”