About 1.3 million people during the past decade decided Dallas-Fort Worth would be a better place to live than the hellholes they departed.
That number, established by the U.S. Census Bureau, meant a 25 percent increase in the region’s population, making us the fastest growing area in all the land, according to CNNMoney.com. The statistics provide hard data behind the black lines we played with Monday.
The numbers reflect incoming residents who moved here between April 1, 2000, and July 1, 2009. The influx now sets the area’s population at 6.5 million, awaiting verification of the 2010 Census, and I hope you all turned in your Census forms. I did, and I still got a Census taker at my front door — probably because they don’t knock on backdoors.
Dallas outpaced other relocation destinations such as Atlanta, which gained more than 1.2 million; Houston, which attracted 1.15 million misguided souls; Phoenix, where 1.11 million people decided they’d move there for the golf and, presumably, the Phoenix Coyotes; and Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., where 900,000 more people evidently thought, “Hmm, wildfires aren’t so bad.”
Oh the other side of the coin, according to an Associated Press report, poor Cleveland lost the greatest number of former residents, 2,658 — is that all? — followed by Detroit, and I swear all 1,713 of them show up at Dallas Stars-Detroit Red Wings games and cheer for the hated-but-respected Wings.
Census Bureau director Robert Groves, quoted in the CNNMoney.com article, said the Census numbers factor heavily in the government’s allotments of $400 billion of federal funds, so, hey, we win.
The article, with its lead photo of downtown Dallas, even made the Trinity River look good. As one wag at Frontburner pointed out, “Hey, Dallas looks pretty when it floods!”
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Bruce Felps owns and operates East Dallas Times, an online community news outlet serving the White Rock Lake area. He really doesn’t hate Houston. That would require acknowledging Houston. OK, he hates it.
