Posted on 04/20/2006 1:59:51 PM PDT by Heartofsong83
Census: Americans Are Fleeing Big Cities By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer Thu Apr 20, 12:15 AM ET
WASHINGTON - Americans are leaving the nation's big cities in search of cheaper homes and open spaces farther out.
Nearly every large metropolitan area had more people move out than move in from 2000 to 2004, with a few exceptions in the South and Southwest, according to a report being released Thursday by the Census Bureau.
Northeasterners are moving South and West. West Coast residents are moving inland. Midwesterners are chasing better job markets. And just about everywhere, people are escaping to the outer suburbs, also known as exurbs.
"It's a case of middle class flight, a flight for housing affordability," said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. "But it's not just white middle class flight, it's Hispanics and blacks, too."
The Census Bureau measured domestic migration — people moving within the United States — from 1990 to 2000, and from 2000 to 2004. The report provides the number of people moving into and out of each state and the 25 largest metropolitan areas.
The states that attracted the most new residents: Florida, Arizona and Nevada. The states that lost the most: New York, California and Illinois.
Among the 25 largest metropolitan areas, 18 had more people move out than move in from 2000 to 2004. New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — the three biggest metropolitan areas — lost the most residents to domestic moves. The New York metropolitan area had a net loss of more than 210,000 residents a year from 2000 to 2004.
Richard Florida, a professor of public policy at George Mason University, said smaller, wealthier households are replacing larger families in many big metropolitan areas.
That drives up housing prices even as the population shrinks, chasing away even more members of the middle class.
"Because they are bidding up prices, they are forcing some people out to the exurbs and the fringe," Florida said. "Other people are forced to make moves in response to that. I don't have any sense of this abating."
The metropolitan area that attracted the most new residents was Riverside, Calif., which has been siphoning residents from Los Angeles for years. The Riverside area, which includes San Bernardino and Ontario, had a net gain of 81,000 people a year from 2000 to 2004.
Riverside has grown to become the 13th largest metropolitan area in the nation. It's a short drive to several mountain ranges, and it's within driving distance of the beach. Locally, it is known as the Inland Empire.
"When you look at housing prices in Southern California, along the beaches and coastlines, you're able to obtain a very large home for a much lower price" in Riverside, said Cindy Roth, president and CEO of the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce.
Homes in Riverside aren't cheap. The median price — the point at which half cost more and half cost less — was $374,200 in 2005. But they are less expensive than Los Angeles, where the median price was $529,000.
Other areas that attracted a lot of new residents also have relatively inexpensive homes, even if they are not the cheapest in the country. Phoenix, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla., Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth round out the top five metropolitan areas.
Yes, and the folks leaving NYC are BLUE COLLAR whites, Nuyoricans, and middle class blacks. The affluent are still coming thank you very much...
I think that was wrong to drop them from the metropolitan areas, as that makes the assessments far more difficult - and deceiving.
Immigration from other countries (mainly the third world) is the only thing sustaining these ultra-liberal cities.
My guess is some people left to escape urban problems and they'll remember what they left and try to avoid recreating anything resembling it. Others weren't driven out by the same things. Seeing empty spaces will inspire them to recreate what they left behind, including all the old problems of the cities they left.
Human nature's involved, and some transplanted urbanites aren't going to adopt rural ways. Those who felt out of place in the cities and older suburbs when they left may adapt and assimilate well enough, though.
When I was a kid we would drive out to my Aunt & Uncles farm in rural Southern Illinois. We used to joke about how the city, St. Louis, would reach all the way out there one day. Now my cousin drives in to work in the city every day, if somebody gets hurt they lifeflight them there, they watch all the St. Louis TV stations, and sure enough, there are "exurbs" less than thirty miles away.
No - but in a few short years you'll be worrying about drinking water.
Ha ha! Thanks for the heads up!
Hope they don't get to far out into the country. They always leave the city because they don't like so much about it, then they come to the country and attempt to push their liberal city values on us.
What you say is true. It seems unlikely that the birth rate in the cities with the leading outmigration rates is especially high (perhaps excepting LA). The numbers cited are not a comparison with migration in the ninties--though your comment suggests there maybe more suburban shifting going on than would be guessed by comparison with historic data. In general the migration rates have declined in the new century. The "take home" message in the study is not what the population trend is, but how current residents are voting with their feet. Migrants decision can be affected by both positive and negative factors. The authors do not try to enumerate or assign weight to those factors.
I will try it out, thanks.
In the case of North Dakota, it is a combination of out-migration and virtually no immigration. Natural increases are the only thing that will sustain that population.
A secret location deep within the Peoples Democratic Republic of Massachusetts. Freedom in MA survives much like the resistance in Europe during WW II.
"Wecome to NH my fellow freeper!"
Why thank you! my wife and i moved up here in 03 must say i was disappointed in the Gov/Pres votes up here. Figures we think we are moving to a Red state and it turns blue on us
ah well
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