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A tightening labor supply will give workers more choice in who they work for, while the persistence of remote work will allow many workers more freedom in where they choose to live. That shift is creating new opportunities for rural regions like Southwest Virginia.

This blog post examines the demographics of Virginians aged 60 and older across eight regions in the Commonwealth, offering a regional perspective on the needs of this rapidly growing population.

Million-dollar farms (MDFs) are in comparatively good health and have enabled Virginia—and the U.S. more broadly—to produce more with fewer farms. Meanwhile, the small farms that form the basis of the Commonwealth’s long tradition of agriculture are struggling in an increasingly consolidated agricultural landscape.

Fifty-three percent of immigrants in this country are naturalized citizens and eligible to vote. It is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish naturalized citizens from noncitizens by appearance, surnames, or facility with English alone, as the population of eligible voters also includes native-born offspring of previous generations of immigrants.

So far the 2020s have turned out very differently than any recent decade. The 2023 county population estimates released by the Census Bureau this spring showed that last year migration rose in small towns and rural counties, making them the top destination within the U.S. The 2023 age estimates, which the Census Bureau released over the summer, show that most of the growth that small towns and rural areas have experienced since 2020 is being driven by growth in their population of 25- to 44– year-olds.

Benchmarked on the 2020 Decennial Census Count data, our latest round of National Population Projections provides a look into the demographic future (total population, broken down by age and sex) for all 50 states and the District of Columbia over the next few decades of 2030, 2040, and 2050.

Recently, the Census Bureau released its 2023 population estimates for each county in the United States, showing many of the same distinctive demographic trends as in our Virginia 2023 population estimates released in January. Most notably, migration from large metro areas and counties to smaller metro areas and rural counties has continued across the country.

The explosion in remote work during the pandemic and its persistence since then is shaping up to be the most impactful demographic trend since expansion of suburbs and exurbs after World War II. While over the past century most population growth was concentrated within commuting distance of major employment centers, such as Washington DC...

It would be difficult to describe Virginia’s demographic trends over the last few decades without using an adjective similar to disparate or unbalanced. Regional economic trends in Virginia have created a stark income gap and the largest differences in household incomes of any single state in the country. At the same time, many young adults moved away from southern and western Virginia for better opportunities elsewhere, and very few young adults moved to these regions to replace them.

Between 2010 and 2020, the population in Virginia increased by over 630,000 people, reaching 8.63 million by 2020. Examining this growth through the lens of age distribution provides interesting insights into the present population structure.