Coastline Population Trends in the United States: 1960 to 2008
Twelve Florida counties made the top-20 list of coastal counties with the greatest percentage of population growth. Flagler County ranked 2nd, growing by 1,898.4%.
Rank |
County, State |
Coastline Region |
Number of Hurricanes |
1 |
Monroe County, FL |
Gulf of Mexico |
15 |
2 |
Lafourche Parish, LA |
Gulf of Mexico |
14 |
2 |
Carteret County, NC |
Atlantic |
14 |
4 |
Dare County, NC |
Atlantic |
13 |
4 |
Hyde County, NC |
Atlantic |
13 |
6 |
Jefferson Parish, LA |
Gulf of Mexico |
12 |
6 |
Palm Beach County, FL |
Atlantic |
12 |
8 |
Miami-Dade County, FL |
Atlantic |
11 |
8 |
St. Bernard Parish, LA |
Gulf of Mexico |
11 |
8 |
Cameron Parish, LA |
Gulf of Mexico |
11 |
8 |
Terrebonne Parish, LA |
Gulf of Mexico |
11 |
Metro New York has the greatest coastal population density with the top four counties in that category. These four counties held the same position on the list in 1960 also.
Rank |
County |
1960 |
2008 |
1 |
New York |
74,551.4 |
71,764.5 |
2 |
Kings |
37,103.8 |
36,105.0 |
3 |
Bronx |
33,843.6 |
33,061.8 |
4 |
Queens |
16,554.6 |
20,977.1 |
The report, Coastline Population Trends in the United States: 1960 to 2008, [PDF] examines population trends along the country’s saltwater edges — coastline counties — and their shares of coastline states during the period. Specifically, it analyzes trends in the growth and decline, geographic distribution and density of the coastline population. It also incorporates historical data on the trajectories of hurricanes striking the U.S. coastlines to gauge the coastline population’s experience with hurricanes.
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The number of housing units along the Gulf of Mexico’s coastline increased by 246 percent from 1960 to 2008, compared with 130 percent in the Pacific and 98 percent in the Atlantic coastline regions and 121 percent for the U.S. as a whole. The number of housing units along the U.S. coastline grew from 16 million to 36 million during this time.
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On average, the 11 coastline counties that were hit by 11 or more hurricanes from 1960 to 2008 increased in population by nearly 179 percent and had a housing unit increase of 255 percent. Among these counties, only Hyde, N.C., lost population (-10.1 percent) and only St. Bernard Parish, La., lost housing units (-2.6 percent).
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The coastline share of Maine’s total population climbed by 9 percentage points from 1960 to 2008. New Hampshire, Virginia and Alaska also had increases of more than 5 percentage points. In contrast, the share of Maryland’s population in its coastline counties dropped 14 percentage points and California’s by 10 points.
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Excluding Alaska, the average density of coastline counties increased from 260 people per square mile in 1960 to 480 in 2008. On average, they are twice as densely populated as noncoastline counties. Among the coastline states, only the coastline sections of New York (between 1970 and 1980), Louisiana (from 1980 to 1990 and 2000 to 2008) and Mississippi (from 2000 to 2008) had declines in population density during any decade.
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New York County (Manhattan), N.Y., is the most densely populated coastline county, with nearly 72,000 people per square mile in 2008. Between 1960 and 2008, Orange County, Calif., and Pinellas County, Fla., joined the list of the 20 most densely populated coastline counties, with Orleans Parish, La., and Westchester County, N.Y., dropping off.
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Nearly half of the nation’s coastline population in 2008 was in either California (29 percent) or Florida (16 percent).
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Most coastline counties (223 of 254) experienced population gains from 1960 to 2008, including all counties from the southern coast of North Carolina through Mississippi, and all counties from California through Washington.
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