While the United States' population grew almost 1% this year and is expected to top 303 million people at the end of 2007, New York State's population grew at less than one-tenth the rate, increasing only .08%. States in the Sunbelt, like Florida, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas, experienced much faster population growth. A negative byproduct of the disparities between New York and the rest of the country is that after every Census, Congressional seats are......

The 2nd Ave. subway isn't scheduled to receive any passengers until 2014, but some residents are relishing the prospect of a new line, while others suspect it could deliver trouble. People living on East End Ave. or York Ave. are cursed with a hike to the nearest subway station, but also somewhat insulated from the increased crowding and pricing pressures that easy access via a subway accompanies. The construction of the 2nd Ave. subway could......

Gotham Gazette has an excellent look at the effects of "a housing bust" by Queens College demographer Andrew Beveridge. This map shows how much income goes towards mortgages; Beveridge notes:The median income of those paying less than 30 percent of their income on housing is $120,900. For those paying between 30 and 50 percent of their income, though, the median is $74,390, and for those paying over 50 percent the median income is $39,900.......

The Princeton Review released its annual "The Best 366 Colleges" rankings, and NYC college schools make some interesting showings. The New School is number 1 for "Best College Town" (Barnard, Columbia, and NYU are also in the top 10), while Queens College is the third most sober. Here are some rankings for some area schools: Barnard: Best Quality of Life (16), Great College Towns (2), Nobody Plays Intramural Sports (18) Brooklyn College: Professor Get Low......

Ladies, it's time to throw your hat in the air a la Mary Tyler Moore: It turns out that young women are earning more than young men in cities like New York, Chicago, Boston, Dallas and Los Angeles. Apparently women between 21 and 30, of all income levels, are earning 117% of men's wages, according to analysis by Queens College demographer Andrew Beveridge for Gotham Gazette. The latest census data shows that women in their......

TV star Matthew Fox went to his alma mater today to give the Class Day speech at Columbia College. Fox, class of 1989, was a controversial speaker choice amongst the Columbia community, given that other Columbia University schools had, er, Nobel Laureate and former Treasury Secretary types speaking. Just Jared has a partial transcript of his remarks:“You may have an idea where you want to be in 20 years and some of you will get......

Congratulations to everyone graduating this month! As NYU's commencement was today, with speaker jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, we decided to list the many NYC commencement speakers, with help from The Chronicle of Higher Education (if we've missed any or gotten it wrong, let us know in comments): Barnard College: Anna Deveare Smith, playwright-actress CUNY Lehman College: Representative Charles Rangel CUNY Brooklyn College: Roberta S. Matthews, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Brooklyn......

The wedding season is in full swing: Second week in a row where there are over 30 weddings in the NY Times Weddings & Celebrations section. Here we go: Total Number of Weddings: 32 (including Vows column) Total Number of Same-Sex Weddings: 2 Youngest Bride: 24 Oldest Bride: 47 Youngest Groom: 24 Oldest Groom: 62 Biggest Age Difference: 17 years Number of Couples Where Bride and Groom Are the Same Age: 2 (24, 38) Number......

It's officially spring, and that means lots of NY Times wedding announcements. Twenty-six, to be exact. Total Number of Weddings: 26 (including Vows column) Total Number of Same-Sex Weddings: 1 Youngest Bride: 23 Oldest Bride: 65 Youngest Groom: 25 Oldest Groom: 73 Biggest Age Difference: 21 years Number of Couples Where Bride and Groom Are the Same Age: 4 (30 31, and two couples at 27) Number of Harvard Graduates Married: 3 Number of Yale......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A(nother) pedestrian struck on Bruckner Boulevard in the Bronx, high carbon monoxide readings in Queens and a technical rescue in Manhattan That big six-alarm apartment building fire in Queens last month? It turns out a man who was squatting there with his girlfriend purposefully set a fire in a closet "hoping to dissuade her from using drugs and engaging in prostitution there." A metal beam falls from scaffolding and......

The Journal-Times of Racine, Wisconsin has a great video feature on the Wagner Company which makes Festivus Poles. Wagner typically produces railings, which is probably why making a Festivus pole is so easy. They are 100% aluminum and come in a 6 foot floor model as well as a 2 foot 8 inch table top model. And check out how you can take care of the surface:Surface Finish: In keeping with the precepts of......

If you count yourself as a New Yorker and a movie lover, it's tough to not have a special affinity for films by Woody Allen. Practically the filmmaker laureate of the city, Allen's prolific 40 plus year career is getting a three week long screening series at Film Forum starting this Friday. Gothamist loves Allen's movies (both the highs and the lows) so much that we thought we'd chat with an Allen expert, Queens College......

Oh, how we love census data! Where would we be today if we didn't know that "the share of households with married couples in the United States dipped to a historic low of 49.7 percent in 2005?" That knowledge changes everything. Well, actually no, not really. But it is interesting. Though the total number of married couples is higher than ever (55.2 million), and "most Americans eventually marry," more and more adults are choosing......

After data released this week by the Census Bureau showed how crappy NYC commutes were, Queens College went over the data and came up with some interesting news: The number of mass transit users has grown as well, suggesting that if you're going to have a long commute, why not read a book and not deal with jerky drivers and bad roads. The NY Times reports that Queens College demographers found "tens of thousands of......

It's that time of year when parents of high school seniors worry over their children just picking party schools to apply to, thanks to the listing power of the Princeton Review. The Princeton Review released its variety of lists, from Party Schools to the Most Politically Active. Where did the city's school show up? Well, Queens College was number 8 on the list for lowest alcohol and marijuana consumption, while NYU was number 1......

State Comptroller Hevesi's foot, meet State Comptroller Hevesi's mouth! At the crossroads of bad introductions and bad commencement speeches, Alan Hevesi was number one - with a bullet - when he lamely tried to fete Queens College honoree Senator Charles Schumer by saying, "We really feel bad for poor Chuck, the U.S. Senator, the man who, uh, uh, how do I phrase this diplomatically, who will put a bullet between the president's eyes if he......

The Brookings Institution released a study of recent US Census data that show some fascinating trends about the country's make-up. The NY Times seizes on the fact that whites will soon be a minority in the NYC area - not just New York City itself, but in its suburbs as well. Here are highlights: - In NYC, blacks are now below 30% of the city's population, as they are moving out to the suburbs and......

- Guess what? With more police officers in the subways, crime goes down. At least crime like smoking, drinking alcohol, and turnstile jumping is done, as some new NYPD stats say that the number of summons issued was down 18% versus 2004 - even in spite of the new rules of conduct (but the MTA did collect more in fines). However, a man was stabbed around 7AM this morning on a 4 train in Midtown.......

What havoc the Internet can wreak: A CUNY law student was Googling herself when she found two files of her law school classmates with loans, with details like their Social Security number, how much their loan was, and their direct deposit bank information. The woman, who was at the school library when making this discovery, told Newsday she screamed, "I was shocked, I was outraged. People have access to our names. Lord knows what they......

...NYC says, "You're crazy, U.S. Census Bureau!" The U.S. Census released its latest populations estimates yesterday, and New York City lawmakers freaked out. Apparently, NYC saw a decrease, from 8,109,626 to a current (as of July 2004) 8,104,079; though there were population increases in the Bronx and Manhattan, decreases in Brooklyn and Queens led to the net decrease. Any total decrease affects the amount of money the government distributes for housing subsidies and other aid.......

The once proud St. John's basketball program named Queens-native Norm Roberts to be their new head coach. Roberts, who played college ball at Queens College, went to Springfield Gardens High School, where he played with former-Knick Anthony Mason. The real question is if he can actually get some talent onto the team. It certainly looks like he will try:"It pains me to see guys from New York City wearing other uniforms. It pains me to......

NYC's population is growing - at least that's what the U.S. Census says. The news seems to reflect that NYC is still attractive to live in (Manhattan had over 9,000 new residents between 2002 and 2003), although various authorities on counting people debate whether this not-like-the-usual-census check by the Census data holds up. Professor Andrew Beveridge of Queens College, the Times' census/demographic consultant, mentions interesting things: - Brooklyn's and Queens' populations declined - Taking all......