U.S.A. fact of the day

As recently as 2013, New York had more people than Florida. Now Florida has 1.75 million more than New York. Indeed 35% of US population growth now occurs in Florida and Texas.

That is from Scott Sumner.  And here is Scott’s post on how the United States is becoming more like Europe:

The US population has gone from growing about one percentage point faster than the EU in the 1990s, to perhaps a third of a point faster today.

So what other ways is the US becoming more like Europe?

1.  The percentage of Americans who are not religious has been rising dramatically.

2.  Our health care system is increasingly socialized.

3.  Our politics increasingly resembles the populism of places like Hungary and Italy.  The political polarization resembles the Brexit split in the UK.  Anti-immigration nationalism came on the scene in Europe before it hit the US.

4.  The recent criminal justice reform bill slightly (and I emphasize slightly) moves us in the European direction of lower rates of incarceration.  We are also slightly softening the war on drugs.

5.  Walkable shopping areas are increasingly popular.  Some cities are moving to allow dense townhouses in areas previously reserved for single-family homes.