The Demographics Research Group conducts practical and policy-oriented analysis of census and demographic data; and communicates rigorous research and its policy implications to decision makers and the general public through meaningful publications and presentations.
Access the official Virginia population projections and estimates and our national population projections.
Explore trends in population, regional distribution, politics, school enrollment, and migration.
Understand the changing human landscape in Virginia and nationally through powerful data visualizations.
"Eight states will have just under half of the total population of the country, 49.5 percent, according to the Weldon Cooper Center’s estimate."
"Census data show that from 2010 to 2017, net migration to retirement-destination counties in Appalachian regions of Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee increased 169%, the same percentage of growth for retirement destinations in Florida, according to Hamilton Lombard, a University of Virginia demographer who has tracked the halfback phenomenon."
"'A lot of suburbs are urbanizing' as millennials move there and demand city-like benefits, says Hamilton Lombard, an analyst at the University of Virginia's Demographics Research Group."
The collection of seven visualizations depicts Virginia’s population size, growth, and age, as well as education, income, poverty, and employment. These “snapshots” capture and display the rich, diverse characteristics of the Commonwealth’s 133 localities, how those localities aggregate into regions, and how the regions assemble into the Commonwealth as a whole.
"Demographer Hamilton Lombard — who grew up in Bath County... — writes on the center’s demography website: 'Most residents moving out of Virginia have been from Northern Virginia where there is a large number of federal employees and contractors and, to a lesser extent, from Hampton Roads where there is a significant defense department presence.'"