No big story here, just a demographic nugget. Minnesota's population of children under 18 rose 1.4 percent between 2007 and 2013. That's faster than the national average, which was 0.1 percent, slower than all of its neighbors except Wisconsin, and faster than the biggest Midwestern states -- Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois.

Generally speaking, Midwest states east of the Mississippi have fewer children than six years ago, while Midwest states west of the Mississippi have more.

Learn About Tableau You can scroll over the map for detail, including the percent change and the absolute change in the number of children in each state from 2007 to 2013. (The data comes from the American Community Survey's 3-year estimates in 2007 and 2013, numbers rounded to the nearest 1,000.)

Together, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois have 447,000 fewer children than six years ago. Michigan alone lost 210,000, an 8.5 percent decline. Minnesota added 18,000 children in the same period. Wisconsin lost 6,000, a 0.5 percent drop.

North Dakota added 13,000, enough for a 9.1 percent increase.

I ran the numbers after seeing this piece, which approaches the question a little differently but is essentially driving at the same thing.