The fastest-growing U.S. metro area is a Florida retirement community, and other 2020 Census highlights

The Villages, Florida
(Image credit: Rhona Wise/AFP/Getty Images)

America was more multiracial and racially diverse, urban and suburban, older, and slightly more populous in 2020 than in 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday. The data will be used to redraw congressional and state legislative districts and allocate federal funds for the next 10 years, and inside the data are some interesting, illustrative, maybe contradictory points about a changing country. Here are four.

1. The fastest-growing big city in the U.S. over the last decade was Phoenix, which hopped over Philadelphia to reach No. 5 of the 10 largest cities. While 52 percent of all U.S. counties lost population between 2010 and 2020, 80 percent of metropolitan areas added residents.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.