The United States of America experienced a nearly one percent population growth rate in 2014 (Lafayette Parish, Louisiana). This growth rate is higher in comparison to Britain, France, and other first world countries. To many, this statement is not surprising. There is always an exaggerated news story about the increasing number of people immigrating to America and how it affects the country. Each woman in America is replacing herself and her spouse by giving birth to an average of nearly two babies in her lifetime (Louisiana). As America grows, more and more people migrate to cities because, generally, living in a city provides an easier life. Cities have plentiful jobs, more housing, and a multitude of places to shop and to eat. Cities also …show more content…
As stated by the Lafayette Parish census, “Lafayette has had a 14.14% population change from 1990 to 2000 and a 9.73% population change from 2000 to 2010” (Lafayette Parish, Louisiana). The problem with such steep rates of growth is that Lafayette has 825 people per square mile and it is very difficult to stop congestion (Lafayette Parish, Louisiana). This is a drastic difference when compared to the average people per square mile in the United States as a whole, which is 34 (Louisiana). Lafayette started as a meager town in the middle of Louisiana and when a few other parishes split up around it, Lafayette was pronounced its own parish. It is now a center of trade and has many major ways of transportation through the parish. An airport, seven major railways, two highways, and two interstates all run through Lafayette and bring travelers to the parish. Much of Lafayette is filled with households making around the average earning of most Americans, however, it is a hub for high-earning Americans. As stated by the Louisiana Census, “median household income in Lafayette in 2013: $47,784” (Louisiana). When a town has a large population of wealthy people there are inherently more cars, larger houses, and extensive residential property spread among few owners which forces less-earning people to live a more congested lifestyle. This crowds the streets with more cars and leads to more congestion. …show more content…
A comprehensive plan, as stated by Lafayette officials, is “a Comprehensive Plan is a long-range plan or “guidebook” for a community’s growth, development and redevelopment. It is a vision for the future that plans for a twenty year time period, based on local conditions, values, and aspirations” (Comprehensive Plan). The planning, zoning, and development is a system of their government responsible for: Purchasing or developing property, Undertaking construction projects (permitting, inspections), Condemning Unsafe Structures, and Opening or relocating businesses (Comprehensive Plan). Lafayette officials are working to annex additional land to its parish to free up congestion. Another problem that city officials are trying to cure is that their school systems have fallen behind and have an increasing student to teacher ratio. Lafayette schools have become congested and have over thirty kids per classroom. It is much harder to learn and get one on one time with a teacher given such high numbers. School officials are working to rezone and add schools to the district. Stated by Lafayette Parish School System officials, as the “community grows and progresses it is important that all stakeholders assist in creating a quality school system that offers every child equitable opportunities and an excellent education” (LAFAYETTE Public Schools).
Every town or city in the world is unique in its own way. They have defining factors that set them apart from one another. These factors include poverty, population, sex, unemployment, and many other features. These specific aspects are all apart of demography; the scientific study of population, composition, and factors such as health, race, ethnicity, income, and more. Demography varies greatly by location and by comparing two places, such as Jefferson City and St. Louis, Missouri, one can see the variation of these features and how they influence health and overall life quality. You will see that St. Louis and Jefferson City, although both located in Missouri, are two very different cities.
Imagine America, but half the size, imagine the country stops at the Mississippi River, that's what the country was like before the Louisiana Purchase. The benefits of American Expansion have outweighed the cost because the Louisiana purchase and has given us more opportunities for economic and agricultural advantages. While we have paid a lot to buy the land and make it the best we can for American citizens to live there, adding the West to the original states made it possible for more people to live in America which also opens up new job opportunities. When we added the Louisiana Territory to the country it more than doubled in size, giving us more room for people to live and travel too. According to Investopedia, “With land costs today averaging between $1,000 and $4,000 per acre in the continental U.S., the total value of the Louisiana Purchase is therefore likely to be near $1.2 trillion.” We bought the western land for $15 million although it was quickly given back for even today the western land continues to flourish with agriculture and economic advantages.
Thirdly, Texas continues to be a fast growing state in the nation, adding some 150,000 new residents a year for the past half-decade or so. Texas is the second most populous state in the US. In recent decades, it has experienced strong population growth. Texas has many major cities and metropolitan areas, along with many towns and rural areas. Much of the population is in the major cities of Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, El Paso, Austin, and Fort Worth. As of 2012, the state has an estimated 4.1 million foreign-born residents; constituting approximately 15% of the state population. An estimated 1.7 million people are illegal immigrants. Personal income didn't grow as quickly in 2013 as it did the previous year, thanks largely to the end of the payroll tax holiday, but Texans fared better than residents of most other states. Courtesy of the robust
The United States is currently becoming an urban nation, with cities
In a time of uncertainty for Louisiana and its budget, citizens are looking for answers and solutions to the budget crisis left by the past Governor, Bobby Jindal. The news sources, for the past few months, have been informing residents in the state of what has been taking place in the special sessions for the budget purposes and the propositions that have been brought before the house and the senate as solutions. Taking a look back at the time before Governor Bobby Jindal ever took office, it was recorded that the state was at almost $2 billion dollars in the black. With Governor Jindal out of office, the newly elected Governor, John Bel Edwards, has stepped into a catastrophe of budgetary issues. According to the Guardian, Louisiana is
Chicago, located close to a portage of Great Lakes, has a whopping population of 2.7 million, yet it was only just considered a city in 1837. How? Why? There are two variables that can be held accountable for such a population influx. In the 1800-1900 time frame, the United State’s experienced an incredible growth in population, technology, and transportation. In 1850, Chicago was a major conjunction on the transcontinental railway. A century later, the city was a desired destination during the Great Migration. Contrast to previous eras, “The Windy City’s” population started declining. Due to transportation improvements, as well as immigration into and within the United States, Chicago’s population has grown tremendously.
The population of Texas is always changing and growing causing Texas as a whole to change in order to accompany the needs of everyone involved. When the year 1900 hit, Texas had over 3 million people with the majority living in rural areas. When the price of oil collapsed the growth rate dipped down to 1 percent, but as soon as the economy started healing the population numbers grew greatly. “By 2010, the number of people was estimated to be 25.1 million. Forty-five percent of the population were non-Hispanic white in 2009…Eleven percent were African American. Thirty-eight were Hispanic, up from 25 percent in 1990” (21). The domestic immigration, international immigration, and the difference between births and deaths have contributed to the population growth in Texas. Texas was not being defined by the majority of the population being natives of Texas but by others coming to this great state
Urbanization in America was driven by the massive unskilled immigrants who wanted jobs and an opportunity to start their new life in a country known to most as “The land of opportunity”. Urbanization have made many changes to America. The cities have become a place to look for opportunities and a popular place to migrate for work either for the people from the rural area or immigrants from outside the county. Which will then lead to political issues and finally the restriction of immigration itself. The process of Urbanization started in the late 1800’s triggered by the Industrial Revolution and Industrialization. Several factors played in the process one of which is the Gilded Age who had a crucial importance in relation to the shift from
It is no astonishingly to observe that the American population has increased enormously in the last fifteen years. Nevertheless, the massive population growth has occurred due to the arrival of immigrants at a large scale. The Pew Hispanic Center published that from 2005 to 2015, immigrants and their offspring born in the America contributed 45 percent to its total population growth. Within this group of immigrants, Latino immigrants constituted more than 52 percent of total American population. Furthermore, East Asian and Latinos immigrants and their children represented a 25 percent increase in the American population due to immigration. This data shows that the population of the United States continues to grow due to the inflow of immigrants from other economies. Besides increasing the population, these immigrants have impacted the U.S. politically, socially and culturally.
The state of California currently has a consistent population growth, where birth rates are 49% of the population, immigration 51% and older Californians are about 20% of the total population. Since California borders the country of Mexico, the number of young hispanics in California is steadily increasing. The population is mostly young and effects the state in California in its work force and education. The large Hispanic community faces trouble as many do not have the qualifications for high paying jobs, and there is a low amount of low skilled jobs available in the state in fact, “ Californians of modest or low incomes are challenged by the high cost of housing, inadequate heath care for the one-fifth of Californians who are uninsured, and the increasing costs of public high education opportunities”. The state of education faces a problem with the high number of hispanics and other minorities in California because, “one-forth of the Children in Californians public school are considered “English Learners”, with some large school districts serving as many as 80 language groups”. Since the great recession in 2008 it has become difficult for people to be able to own a house, this has placed a huge effect on minorities such as hispanics. School quality
Historically, many of the suburban towns and neighborhoods around the major U.S. cities served as homes to poor and minority residents, offering cheaper living spaces due to the marginalized and inconvenient geographical locations with several negative reputations. Yet, given the big cities’ overcrowded environment and expensive living cost, these suburban areas are now popular destinations for people who seek for a less-crowded and affordable neighborhood to dwell. According to statistics by Kolko (2016), in 2015, the population of overall U.S. suburban neighborhoods increased by 159 million people, while only the total of less than 80 million
The United States is the third most populated country in the world. This country holds about 4.5% of the world’s population. The U.S. population is currently estimated to have 308.7 million persons. This number is more than double of the population from 1950. Besides the fact of the population has doubled its size, the population has also become qualitatively different from the one from 1950. As noted by the Population Reference Bureau, “The U.S. is getting bigger, older, and more diverse.” The growth of the population is the result of the trends over time in the relationship of increased births, decreased deaths, and increased net immigration.
From 1890 to 1920, cities in the United States experienced a rapid growth that was unprecedented in years previous. This growth was caused by a number of factors and resulted in both positive and negative consequences. Such factors included, industrialization, technological advances, migration and immigration. Although American cities greatly improved by the expeditious urbanization, these factors also developed numerous challenges including pollution, sanitation problems, a need for environmental reform, political corruption, overcrowding, high crime rates and segregation.
For many years, the Midwest has been experiencing a severe population decline as young people leave for college and begin to start their lives in other, bigger, cities. According to authors Patrick J. Carr and Maria J. Kefalas, this decrease in population has caused many problems throughout Iowa, including an aging population, dying small towns, and fewer jobs coming to this state. For many years, the Midwest has been looking for solutions to combat this problem. For example, Governor Vilsack initiated the “Come Back to Iowa, Please” campaign in 2006, there have been various economic incentives to attract people back to their home state, and the “Cool Cities” initiative started in Michigan in 2003, are only a few. Although, a more controversial idea being considered is to attract more immigrants to our state in order to make up for the problems the Midwest has come to face, in recent years (Carr and Kefalas). Many people believe immigration will do more harm than good for our state, though there are actually many benefits that come with having them here: immigrants bring more culture and diversity to this predominantly white state, they are a boost for state and local economies, and they also help to reverse the decline in population. However, in order for the Midwest to see more of the benefits of immigration, there are still many changes that need to be done with federal, state, and local immigration policies in order to make it easier for these immigrants to enter the
Urbanization causes financial problems to the overwhelming majority of the people. This is because problems with money are widespread in urban areas. First of all, urbanization leads to the extreme growth of unemployment. For instance, as reported by the International Labour Organization, International unemployment rose to 210 million people in 2010 (David & Vicente 2012, p.154). According to David & Vicente (2012, p.156) vast amounts of unemployment results in human resources not being used efficiently across cities which cause social inequality. This evidence shows that urbanization causes unemployment. Urbanization leads to significant overpopulation in the central cities, which causes high competition and as a result lower job opportunities for most people in the labor market. As businesses and governments cannot produce enough jobs to meet the demand of a fast-growing population, a lot of individuals are faced with a shortage of employment and deprived of a vital source of income. As a result, lack of revenue leads to inequality in society. Secondly, urbanization leads to a lack of affordable housing for the overwhelming majority of urban people. According to Gan (et al., 2017, p.427) in the forthcoming future, the global urban population will reach around 6.3 billion people in 2050, and about 94% of them will be in developing countries. Furthermore, approximately 828 million people from developing countries currently live in inadequate housing and this number will rise