Population: Fla. is growing but eight states shrink

• Illinois and three other states that lost population – Connecticut, New York and Vermont – had among the highest median property taxes in 2015.
• The nonpartisan Tax Foundation, which advocates low rates, said in a new assessment of migration between the states last year, “Taxes are not the sole factor why individuals migrate but a relationship does exist.” Some people in Illinois, which lost 37,508 people, the most of any state, think so.
• As coal production declined, West Virginia lost 9,951 people from 2015 to 2016, its fourth straight year of population loss.
• Eight states lost population between 2015 and 2016, and 12 others recorded their lowest population increase of the decade, as economic woes and lower birth rates hit some states harder than others.
• And people’s ability to move, as their personal finances or job outlooks have improved, “is now critical to whether a state gains or loses population,” said Kenneth Johnson, a demographer at the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy.

Source: Florida Realtors