Over half (174,615,641, or 52%) of the nation's population (334,914,895) resides in the 35 most populous metropolitan areas (all of these contain over 2 million, eleven over 5 million).
Alternatively, over half (180,849,722, or 54%) of the nation's population (334,914,895) resides in the 10 most populous states.
The six fastest growing states right now are #1 Texas, #2 Florida, #3 Georgia, #4 North Carolina, #5 South Carolina, and #6 Tennessee. The six fastest SHRINKING right now are #1 Illinois, #2 California, #3 Massachusetts, #4 New Jersey, #5 Wisconsin, and #6 New York. Essentially, people are moving south (and in California's case, east).
If California were its own nation, it would be the eighth largest economy on the planet after (1) the other 49 states and the District Columbia of the United States, (2) China, (3) Germany, (4) Japan, (5) India, (6) the United Kingdom, and (7) France.
Texas is the only state that can legally secede from the United States without causing a civil war.
