Follow the folks. The fluidity of the nation's urban areas, says something about where the nation is going. Growth areas speak to the ex-urbanization of the country, along with its re-urbanization as city dwellers redistribute themselves outside of many of America's largest cities and into the next tier of urban areas. If you add the rapidly changing demographics in many of these places, you might even sense the earth itself shifting under your feet. Nostalgia is nice, but keeping one's eyes on the forward path is a necessity these days.

—Ray Brimble

Cities Americans Are Fleeing

By Gary Hoover, Executive Director of the American Business History Center

article reprinted from the ABHC’s newsletter

Two weeks ago, we presented an animated chart showing the most popular American cities – the metropolitan areas which received the most domestic migrants in each year from 2010 through 2018.  This week, we created an animated chart showing “the least popular” cities – which metros the most people are leaving. 

The greater New York area leads the way, in recent years losing (net of American residents moving in) about 200,000 people a year to other places in America – largely to the metros in the “most popular chart.”  Los Angeles and Chicago are next.  In recent years, Washington, Miami, and San Francisco have risen on the list (that is, fallen in net domestic migration).

Population growth and shrinkage are important factors in business and where business takes place. Entrepreneurs and innovators often follow population shifts, or even lead them.  Population growth results from increases due to births and people moving in, minus deaths and people moving out.  Those movers can be further divided into domestic migrants and international migrants.

The new chart shows the twenty metropolitan areas with the highest domestic out-migration in each year from 2010 through 2018. Larger metropolitan areas like New York and Los Angeles can still show growth due to people moving to the United States from other countries (international migration).   

People vote with their feet. Sunbelt states overall offer stronger economies, more job opportunities, better weather, and lower taxes. These trends may have political implications, as “blue state” residents move to “red” states, perhaps making them more “purple.”

We hope you enjoy these charts.  Several others can be found in the charts and data section of the American Business History website.