Ohio Continued to Lose Ground Over the last Four Years, as Populations In Most Metro and Micro Areas Declined

I’ve long referred to Ohio as a “dead state walking.” That moniker is hardening with each passing year.

For the most part, I will let the visuals below tell the story. The punchline based on the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau is that, as I laid out back in the summer of 2022 in my Population & Power series, most of Ohio is hollowing out (i.e. losing people and jobs). Specifically, Ohio’s population is declining in thirty-two out of forty-four metropolitan and micropolitan areas around Ohio.

Essentially, outside of the Greater Columbus and Cincinnati areas, people are either leaving Ohio or moving to the Columbus or Cincinnati areas. In the twelve areas that grew, seven experienced growth of less than one percent, with three other areas only growing by less than two percent. Not surprisingly, only the Columbus and Cincinnati areas grew by 2% or more since 2020.

If you dig into the data a little bit, as I did, things look even worse. When comparing the growth of the metro and micro areas to their competitor areas around the country, only four areas IMPROVED their ranking; meaning, in only four areas did the growth outpace the growth in competitor areas. In three areas, the growth kept pace with competitors. In a stunning thirty-seven metro and micro areas, the population rank DECLINED at a faster rate or grew at a SLOWER rate than competitor areas. In the twelve areas that experienced a net increase in population, half grew at a SLOWER pace than competitor areas around the country. For those thirty-seven “falling behind” areas, the average drop in where they ranked compared to competitor areas equaled nearly six spots, with five areas dropping in the rankings by double-digits.

If such a widespread decline in metro and micro areas doesn’t set off alarm bells in Capitol Square, I’m not sure what will. I’ve long referred to Ohio as a “dead state walking.” That moniker is hardening with each passing year.

In other news, the Left’s insanity and rage hit a new level this past week. In addition to spitting on, peeing on, pooping on, and torching Teslas around the country because Elon Musk has the audacity to support Donald Trump, the Left in Canada decided to smear feces on a statute of hockey GOAT Wayne Gretzky also because he supports Trump.

Proving once again that the attacks on him during the 2024 Republican Presidential Primary were ridiculous, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis threw down a fairly large gauntlet this week when he worked with Musk and DOGE to return federal funds that the Biden Administration had sent to Florida with strings attached, which DeSantis refused to accept. In total, DeSantis returned nearly $900 million to the federal coffers to help reduce the deficit and debt. DeSantis then challenged other governors to follow his lead by doing the same thing.

We won’t see Ohio Governor Mike DeWine return federal funds because he and Ohio have become too addicted to federal largess whether strings are attached or not. At the end of the last fiscal year, Ohio general revenue spending required roughly $13 billion in federal funds to cover expenses, with most of that going to keep John Kasich’s Medicaid expansion under Obamacare going strong. Half way through the current fiscal year, Ohio has received nearly $7.7 billion in federal funds to its general revenue fund coffer, which will put the final total somewhere near $15 billion by June 30, 2025. Oh, what Ohioans would give for a DeSantis-like governor.

Finally, not to toot my own horn, but Trump’s move to end the U.S. Department of Education and decentralize its functions to the states means two of my core policy recommendations have now been adopted. The first, as readers may recall, was Trump’s decision to decentralize natural disaster response to the states. If Trump adopts my recommendation to decentralize Medicaid to the states, as well, this year will go down in the record books. It truly is amazing what can get done when you have a leader willing to do the tough stuff supported by top-notch staffers working tirelessly to make it happen. Oh, what Ohioans would give for a Trump-like governor supported by aggressive, break-the-china staffers.

P.S. If you want to see just how much college educated white women really are from Venus and most of the rest of America is from Mars, check out the graphic above that shows voter opinions on various people and topics. College educated white women are simply becoming insular Americans with views far beyond the norm. It is why we are increasingly seeing headlines like the one below from Saturday’s Wall Street Journal. The full article echoes what I wrote about in my fourth book, The Myth of the Bigger, Better Deal. In that book, I detail how the extreme political views of women create enormous mathematical hurdles to them starting relationships, as their ban on dating men who voted for Trump along with their demand that eligible men make six figures, have a college degree, and stand at least 6’0” shrinks their dating pool to the size of a puddle after a ran storm. The polarization of college educated white women will cause issues in America far beyond the utility of dating apps.