American Life

Here at work I'm toiling on this marketing project in which we're looking at population and demographics. My manager handed me this huge binder filled with all kinds of eye-opening statistics. A few facts about our country that I did not realize:

* In 2002 the US population was 288 million. Next year we'll go over the 300 million threshold.

* By 2020, one out of five people in America will be Hispanic.

* Phoenix is the 6th largest city in America by population. Other cities in the top 30 include El Paso, TX (23), Fort Worth, TX (27) and Tucson, AZ (30).

* There are more black people in the New York metro area (3.5 million) than there are in the entire state of Texas (2.4 million).

The country is changing very quickly but I don't think most people (the media especially) realize it. It's safe to say that what you see on TV doesn't even come close to reflecting this country as a whole.