Bacon's Rebellion

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Map of the Day: States Where People Want to Move

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by

James A. Bacon
in ,

desire_to_move

Another data point indicating that Virginia is in bigger trouble than the political class is willing to acknowledge…

In a recent poll the Gallup organization found that one third (33%) of all Americans say that, if given a chance to move to a different state, they would. Overall, residents are most dissatisfied with the blue dystopias of the Northeastern and Midwestern states (Illinois, Connecticut, Maryland, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts all ranked in the top eight), while deep South red states (Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia came in close behind). It seems people aren’t happy living with either all-encroaching government or poverty. (See the state ranking here.)

And Virginia? It turns out that that the Old Dominion is pretty high on the list, with 37% of respondents saying they would leave. We also ranked above the national average in the percentage of residents who said they they were likely to move within 12 months — not exactly endorsement of the economic opportunities and lifestyles we have created here.

The following chart gets us closer to understanding why people want to move. (Unfortunately, Gallup publishes only details for 10 states, not including Virginia):

reasons_why

Clearly, taxes are a significant factor for high-tax states. Cost of living is a factor in the Northeast, quality-of-life considerations a factor in the South. The big driver, however, is economic opportunity, as reflected by the “work/business-related” category. I’m guessing the latter might be pretty high for Virginia.

— JAB

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6 responses to “Map of the Day: States Where People Want to Move”

  1. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    ” The big driver, however, is economic opportunity, as reflected by the “work/business-related” category. I’m guessing the latter might be pretty high for Virginia.”

    Remember … you heard it here first:

    https://www.baconsrebellion.com/2013/08/is-virginias-economy-tanking-2.html

  2. JohnS Avatar
    JohnS

    Virginia’s unemployment rate of 5% is still considerably lower than the national average, and less than booming Texas (5.5%), for what that’s worth.

    People tend to think the grass is always greener somewhere else.

    1. DJRippert Avatar
      DJRippert

      I find the unemployment rate to be an all but useless metric. In April the unemployment rate dropped. However, so did the number of people either holding a job or looking for a job. Meanwhile, the Spin Doctor in Chief was busy crowing about his success ….

      “The White House posted on its blog that businesses have added more than 9.2 million jobs over the past 50 months.”

      Unfortunately, the population of the United States grew by more than 10M over that same timeframe.

      What happens to a country where population grows faster than employment?

      Nothing good.

      Virginia’s problem is an addiction to federal money – especially in the form of discretionary federal spending. That spending has been cut back since about 2010. We’ll see how that turns out.

  3. TMT Avatar
    TMT

    According to Ed Long, Fairfax County Executive, and others, job growth at the higher end has slowed to a trickle in Fairfax County – probably elsewhere too. The parts of Virginia that have been strong, NoVA and Tidewater, simply are too dependent on Uncle Sam’s trough. Moreover, these areas attract people who are good at dealing with government procurement, regulation and politics. We don’t have the people with the necessary skill set and thought process to develop non-government-related businesses on a scale that is needed to grow the economy in areas that can balance the tightening of federal spending.

    Moreover, I don’t see what would attract those people here. Tidewater and NoVA are government towns.

    1. DJRippert Avatar
      DJRippert

      Too pessimistic. We do have a problem caused by federal discretionary spending being cut. I believe it was cut by something like 12%. Meanwhile, job growth is still occurring at the high end – if only a trickle it’s still positive. I guess Fairfax County is actually replacing the lost federal jobs with private sector jobs. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any job growth at all.

      Meanwhile, companies like Amazon Web Services are hiring those people who lack “the necessary skill set and thought process to develop non-government-related businesses”.

      Your math isn’t adding up, TMT.

      1. TMT Avatar
        TMT

        It’s not my math. It’s Fairfax County’s. Pick up the phone and call Ed Long. He is extremely concerned about the negligible growth in higher income jobs. The County is seeing most growth at the low-wage-level service jobs. He says it’s a problem. I have no reason to doubt what he’s saying.

        This area does not attract the kind of people who make things grow in Northern California, Seattle, Boston, etc. It attracts people who are good at dealing with the federal government. Similarly, those other areas generally don’t attract anyone who has a clue as to dealing with the federal government. Witness Microsoft. It felt it didn’t even need a D.C. office. And when they hire people to deal with Uncle Sam, they hire those who are already here.

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