Charts of the week: Non-metro America is whiter and older, BCRA Medicaid cap, 529 plans

Click on the links or on the charts to go to the full research.

Non-metro America is whiter, getting older, losing population

New census data show little increase in diversity among non-metropolitan areas of the United States. Senior Fellow William Frey says “This is noteworthy in light of the huge attention given to non-metropolitan America in the aftermath of the 2016 election because of its strong support of President Trump.” Frey also notes that the under-10 U.S. population of non-Hispanic whites is in the minority for the first time ever.

Senate’s per capita Medicaid cap would require states to increase spending

Analysis from the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative on Health Policy outlines the potential effects of the BCRA (the Senate GOP’s health care bill) on state Medicaid funding. Using a historical exercise, the researchers find that had it been implemented in the 2000s and in place in 2011, it would have required “states to increase their spending by an average of 17 percent to maintain their programs in their then-current form.”

47 percent of families with 529 plans had annual incomes over $150,000

Senior Fellow Richard Reeves argues that affluent families accrue nearly all the benefits from 529 college savings plans. In both tax expenditures and return-to-investment, upper middle class families prove to gain the most from 529s.

Samuel Dart contributed to this post.