According to the U.S. Census Bureau, this morning at 7:46 AM (EDT), the U.S. reached a milestone, hitting the 300 million mark in total population.

By now, most everyone has heard the news as everyone from the Census Bureau to the Wall Street Journal to 60 Minutes’ Andy Rooney has publicized the number. Should businesses care about this milestone? After all, it’s just a round number.

With all of the hype about the 300 million, there is scant mention of the geographic distribution of those people or the other associated geography issues. (For example, a Technorati search of blog posts shows more than 7000 English language posts on the milestone but only about 100 mention geography.) But does the geographic distribution of those 300 million people matter to business? I think so. First, while 300 million is a big number, there are approximately 6.5 billion people worldwide. While true that there is higher per capita spending in the U.S. than many other places, there is still a huge market outside the U.S. that is growing in purchasing power.

Inside the U.S., the numbers behind the number reveal that 12 percent of the 300 million were born outside of the U.S., up from 5 percent in 1967 when the population reached the 200 million mark. This means a lot more variation in spending patterns and product desires that businesses must service. Geographically, many immigrants live in urban areas, primarily in the coastal areas and especially in the southwest. Better publicized is the aging population and longer life expectancy. The aging population tends to move south and west. According to the Population Reference Bureau,

between 1970 and 2000, as Americans moved out of the Northeast and Midwest, the population share in the South and West rose from 48 percent to 58 percent of the national total.

According to the Wall Street Journal article “The Coming Crunch“–

The Center for Environment and Population, a nonpartisan research group in New Canaan, Conn., calculates that more than half the population lives within 50 miles of the coasts. In the next decade, an additional 25 million people — half the total population increase — will join them there.

And this -

Economists predict that market forces eventually will shift some of the U.S. population back to interior states where housing is cheaper, land is more abundant, social services are less stressed and labor is cheaper for businesses.

There’s some sign that’s already happening. The foreign-born population of Tennessee is up 140% in the past five years as newcomers have begun to disperse beyond the historic gateways of New York, California and Texas. Idaho and Utah grew by 10% in five years, twice the rate of the U.S. generally.

The geography of the 300 million affects business. Supply chains must be planned and executed according to geographically different demand levels. Prices and product needs vary by the demographics in different areas. Where these 300 million people live, work, and travel is probably as important to businesses as anything else about the milestone.