WASHINGTON — The recession is profoundly disrupting American life: More people are delaying marriage and home buying, turning to carpools yet getting stuck in ever-worse traffic, staying put rather than moving to new cities.
Similar trends, though to a lesser degree, occurred in Arkansas, according to a broad array of U.S. census data released late Monday.
The census figures also show a dip in the foreign born population last year to under 38 million after it reached an all-time high in 2007. This was because of declines in low-skilled workers from Mexico searching for jobs in Arizona, Florida and California.
The percentage of foreign born residents in Arkansas also dropped, from 4.2 percent in 2007 to 3.8 percent last year, a decline of roughly 11,000 people.
Health coverage swung widely by region, partly on the basis of levels of unemployment. Massachusetts, with its universal coverage law, had fewer than one in 20 uninsured residents - the lowest in the nation. Texas had the highest share, at one in four, largely because of Hispanic illegal aliens excluded from government-sponsored and employer-provided plans.
In Arkansas, more than 81 percent of residents had some sort of health insurance.
Demographers said the latest figures were striking confirmation of the social impact of the economic decline as it hit home in 2008. Findings come from the annual American Community Survey, a sweeping look at life built on information from 3 million households.
Preliminary data earlier this year found that many Americans were not moving, staying put in big cities rather than migrating to the Sun-belt because of frozen lines of credit. Mobility is at a 60-year low, upending population trends ahead of the 2010 Census, which will be used to apportion House seats.
Arkansans remained as mobile last year as the year before, the census data show: Almost 64 percent of people born in the state stayed where they were. Louisiana and New York again topped the list with the highest percentage of residents who stay put - 82 and 81 percent, respectively.
"The recession has affected everybody in one way or another as families use lots of different strategies to cope with a new economic reality," said Mark Mather, associate vice president of the nonprofit Population Reference Bureau. "Job loss - or the potential for job loss - also leads to feelings of economic insecurity and can create social tension."
"It's just the tip of the iceberg," he said, noting that unemployment is still rising.
The percentage of people who drove alone to work dropped last year to 75.5 percent, the lowest in a decade, as commuters grew weary of paying close to $4 a gallon for gasoline and opted to carpool or take public transportation.
Twenty-two states had declines in solo drivers compared with the year before, with the rest statistically unchanged. The decreases were particularly evident in states with higher traffic congestion, such as Maryland, Texas and Washington.
The number of solo commuters also dropped in Arkansas, from 87 percent in 2007 to 80 percent last year.
Average commute times edged up to 25.5 minutes, erasing years of decreases to stand at the level of 2000, as people had to leave home earlier in the morning to pick up friends for their ride to work or to catch a bus or subway train.
Palmdale, Calif., a suburb in the high desert north of Los Angeles, posted the longest commute at 41.5 minutes. It barely edged out New York City, with its congestion and sprawling subway system, at 39.4 minutes. Shortest commute time: Bloomington, Ill., at 14.1 minutes.
Commute time for Arkansans remained the same, an average 21 minutes.
Marital bliss also suffered. Nearly one in three Americans 15 and over, or 31.2 percent, reported they had never been married, the highest level in a decade. The share had previously hovered for years around 27 percent, before beginning to climb during the housing downturn in 2006.
The never-married included three-quarters of men in their 20s and two-thirds of women in that age range. Sociologists say younger people are taking longer to reach economic independence and consider marriage, because they are struggling to find work or focusing on an advanced education.
The Northeast had the most people who were delaying marriage, led by states such as New York and Massachusetts. People in the South were more likely to give marriage a try, including those in Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas.
Even in Arkansas, however, the percentage of never-marrieds went up from 27.7 percent of men and 21.6 percent of women to 29 and 23 percent, respectively.
The dip in foreign-born residents comes as the government considers immigration changes, including steppedup border enforcement and a path toward U.S. citizenship. At nearly 38 million, immigrants made up 12.5 percent of the population in 2008; an estimated 11.9 million are here illegally.
In three large metro areas, Miami, San Jose, Calif., and Los Angeles, more than onethird of all residents are foreign-born.
Roughly half the states showed declines in the number of immigrants from 2007 to 2008. Major metro areas also posted decreases, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Detroit and Tampa, Fla.
An influx of workers from India, who came looking for specialized jobs in telecommunications, manufacturing, computers and software, partially offset the national immigration decrease.
About one in five U.S. residents spoke a language other than English at home, mostly clustered in California, New Mexico and Texas.
The number of foreign born and minority-group residents often tracked closely with how a state ranked in the levels of uninsured.
The highest numbers were in agricultural communities with large Hispanic populations in California's San Joaquin Valley, South Texas and South Florida. Regions in New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Alaska, Oklahoma and Georgia also fared poorly.
The numbers help explain why the debate over illegal immigration and health insurance is so heated.
"The fact that many election 'swing states,' with large and growing Hispanic populations, rank low on health insurance for children and young adults points to the significance of this issue for both parties in future national elections," said William H. Frey, a demographer at Brookings Institution, a think tank.
Democratic proposals to overhaul health insurance would exclude illegal aliens from benefits, but Republicans contend the prohibition is meaningless because of lax enforcement. President Barack Obama has now proposed broader and tougher restrictions; opponents say the steps are still not enough.
Associated Press writers Frank Bass in East Dover, Vt., Calvin Woodward in Washington and Mike Schneider in Orlando contributed to this report.
Census releases '08 community survey Some facts on U.S. and Arkansas life in 2008, according to the Census Bureau's annual American Community Survey (www.census.gov):
Disabilities: About 12 percent of U.S. residents reported having a disability. They were most likely to be found in West Virginia (19 percent), followed by Arkansas (17.4 percent), Kentucky, Mississippi and Oklahoma. Utah had the fewest disabled people, at 8.9 percent.
Homeowners: The homeownership rate fell to 66.6 percent last year, the lowest in six years, after hitting a peak of 67.3 percent in 2006. Homeownership in Arkansas stood at 67.4 percent last year, down from 67.7 percent.
Carpools: The share of people who carpooled to work rose to 10.7 percent, up from 10.4 percent in the previous year. In Arkansas, carpools rose a half percentage point, from 12 to 12.5 percent.
Two-income families: About55 percent of U.S. married couples had both spouses in the labor force. North Dakota ranked first at 65 percent, followed by Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa. Ranked last was West Virginia, at 45 percent. Arkansas ranked 45th at 51 percent.
Military veterans: About 10 percent of adult U.S. residents are veterans. Alaska had the highest share at 14 percent, followed by Montana, Maine, Wyoming and Virginia. Arkansas ranked 21st with 11.3 percent. New York and Washington, D.C., ranked at the bottom, both with fewer than 7 percent.
Multigenerational households: There were 3.8 million households with at least three generations living together. They were most likely to be found in Hawaii (7 percent), followed by California, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana. In Arkansas, 3.3 percent of households could be classed as multigenerational. North Dakota had the fewest, at 1.1 percent.
Front Section, Pages 1, 2 on 09/22/2009