May kicks off the busiest moving season of the year. It’s a time when moving vans and rental trucks show up in driveways and parking lots all across the country. Each year, 1-in-8 of us changes our address — a rate that is up slightly as of last year. Nearly two thirds of all moves are within the same county, and slightly less than 5 percent to another state. Men and women in their 20s are more apt to move, searching for a better place to live, and in response to marriage, childbirth, and changing jobs. Renters are more likely to move than homeowners, and the rate of moving is lowest for those 65 and older. You can find current data on the country’s economy by downloading the new “America’s Economy” mobile application at <www.census.gov/mobile>.
Monday, May 27th. Today is Memorial Day, looked on as the start of the summer season, and a time for family gatherings and sporting events. But the true meaning of the day is underlined by the continuing sacrifices made by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and other tense areas. The first official observance of Memorial Day was on this date in 1868, ordered by General John Logan, when flowers were placed on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. From the Civil War through Vietnam, some 566,000 U.S. service personnel died in combat, more than half of them in World War II. Across the U.S., there are just under 22 million veterans of the armed forces. Profile America is in its 17th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Sunday, May 26th. This Memorial Day weekend will have seen many backyard parties among friends and neighbors. In addition to grilled chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs, there will be baked beans and potato chips, often joined by a salad. Most grocery stores now carry a wide variety of greens, where some years ago, the standard all across America was iceberg lettuce. In fact, this is National Salad Month. It’s also National Vinegar Month, a key ingredient in many salad dressings. Americans eat an average of 17 pounds of lettuce, six pounds of celery, and 2½ pounds of mushrooms each year. To flavor the salads, nearly 15,000 Americans work in the mayonnaise, dressing and prepared sauce industry. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at <www.census.gov>.
Saturday, May 25th. Two famous landmarks at opposite ends of the country are having anniversaries around this time. Both are landmarks of the cities they serve, and both were considered engineering marvels when they were built. San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937, hailed as a technological marvel then as now. And, the Brooklyn Bridge, spanning New York’s East River, opened in 1883 to link Manhattan and Brooklyn. It now daily carries thousands of automobiles, instead of the 1880s horse-drawn vehicles. More than 604,000 other bridges form a vital part of the nation’s highway system. Of these, nearly a quarter are considered deficient and obsolete to cope with modern traffic. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at <www.census.gov>.