By Matt Rooney

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New Jersey is ending a decade with a year of net population loss, Save Jerseyans.

Not a slowed rate of growth or a percentage dip. An actual raw, net loss of people.

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The U.S. Census Bureau published new population data and estimates last week covering 2010-2019, and it discovered New Jersey with 90,212 more people in 2019 (8,882,190) than it had at the dawn of the currently concluding decade (8,791,978). Our anemic growth culminated in an actual population LOSS of 3,835 for the current year over 2018 (8,886,025).

This dire news shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Our population growth has been weak for years; in 2018, the state gained only 500 new residents (net). Losing residents however is something new, ominous, and yes, avoidable.

Plagued by high taxes and an unfriendly business climate, the Garden State is a shell of its former prosperous self. A November 2019 survey found 44% of state residents planning to leave New Jersey in the near future.

We’re not alone. Nine other states also experienced a net population loss: Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Vermont, and West Virginia.

Fellow “blue states” – California, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island – are on track to lose electoral votes following the next census assuming current Bureau estimates are accurate.

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