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Wait, People Still Live in the Adirondacks? What Happened to the Zombie Invasion?

The US Census numbers are out, and guess what… people still live in the Adirondacks!

In fact, overall it appears as though the population numbers in the park held steady – or, depending on how you read into the data (and account for prison population), they may have even increased.

Check out an interactive map HERE.

Essex County – our new home, which is a county contained entirely within the Park – saw growth of 1.3%. We are happy to have contributed!

Clinton County – up 2.8%

Warren County – up 3.8%

Herkimer +.2, Fulton +.8, Franklin +.9, Saratoga +9.5, Washington +3.6

The news wasn’t all growth. St. Lawrence County broke even, and Hamilton County (which is a pretty remote area also contained entirely within the park) lost 10.1%

But the overall trend for the area has been steady, or growth.

This data stands in stark contrast to the doom and gloom we have continually heard from news outlets and politicians since moving here. Listening to them you would have thought there was a zombie invasion in the North Country, and that most people (especially young people) were running for their lives!!

Pro-development forces in the Adirondacks like to point to this zombie invasion… errr, I mean population crash… as an example of how the Park is over regulated. They claim restrictions have hurt local economies – and thus populations.

Now, not only does that appear to be untrue… but if you compare these numbers to other rural areas of New York – such as parts of Central and most of Western NY – you see that the Park actually appears to be doing better than them.

Could it be…

Could it possibly be…

That the Park is actually an asset?

That, oh I don’t know, people want to live and work here not in spite of the Park… but because of it?

Not that we’d know anything about that.

Just the Facts: The Adirondack Park Agency (APA) is the government agency tasked with long range land use planning in the Park. Since 1973, it has declined only .8% of the projects that have been brought before it. (source)

Sarcasm and zombies aside, these numbers seem to simply confirm our experiences over the last year. I feel like a week doesn’t go by without us meeting someone (almost always young) who has moved to the area and put down roots.

I’m sure we’ll ponder all of this more tonight… when we go out to dinner with some of our friends – 2 young couples – and share a great meal at a restaurant owned by 2 more of our friends – yep, another young couple.

(Kudos to Brian Mann for publishing this data over at The In Box)

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