Fourth of July Demographics

American independence from England had a strong demographic base. The colonies were growing in population size, with high rates of natural increase encouraged by a growing economy. Population growth has continued to be order of the day in the U.S. as the country took over territory from coast to coast, ramping up the number of states from 13 to 50. In honor of the Fourth of July, Bryan Vu at MyLife has put together a very nice graphic of population growth by state from the first census in 1790 through the most recent in 2010. Here are the contrasts: