Wait a minute. Your article first indicates a 15.6 percent rise in the U.S. population between 1990 and 2002 but then goes on to claim an increase at “faster rates” in coastal counties: 13.3 percent.

Richard Laatsch
Oxford, Ohio

The 13.3 percent rise in population is only for the 330 counties that touch the coastline. The other 343, generally suburban counties deemed coastal because of their drainage patterns are growing much faster .—S. Perkins