Still headed South, West, and to the ëBurbs

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. … 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.

only nine per cent of Britons live in the urban core; fully 43 per cent live in the suburbs. The movement that has been taking place since the 1920s has slowed and quickened at various points, but it has never reversed. Suburbanisation, or more precisely dispersed living, is the future.