The states of New England dominate the Northeastern region of the United States and show certain general trends as well as individual differences based on economic considerations, population trends, and geography.
New England consists of the six states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. They cover 66,672 square miles, or two percent of the total area of the United States. New England is about the size of one Midwestern state, and indeed, it has been noted that it probably would be one state had America been settled from west to east. The region has more than 6,000 miles of shoreline, roughly 200 ski areas, and more than 800 campgrounds. The population stands at approximately 13 million people, or about five percent of the U.S. population. Two states-Vermont and New Hampshire--accounted for more than 70 percent of the net increase in population in New England during the first half of the 1990s. In most New England states, the number of high school graduates declined steadily during the late 1980s and early 1990s, but the region is now in the midst of a modest demographic rebound. The number of New England public high school graduates is expected to grow steadily from 112,100 in 1996 to 135,710 in the year 2005, after which the number will drop off once more ("The state of New England: A fact sheet," 1999).
New England's racial and ethnic profile is changing rapidly. AfricanAmericans, AsianAmericans, Hispanics, and Native Americans represented more than 14 percent of the region's 18 to24yearolds in 1990, which is up from eight percent a decade earlier. In 1996, more than 915,000 immigrants were admitted to the United States, and about 40,000 said they intended to settle in New England. New England has experienced an economic boom because of a high-tech economy fueled by foreignborn scientific talent, much as earlier waves of foreign immigrants powered the region's...