maleficent

Top 10 fastest growing states
seems like a good list of states to not move to.. well except new jersey You living in any of these states? Notice a population growth or rise in the cost of living as a result of the growth? Want to move to any of these places?

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Charlatan

I remember when I was taking Urban Geography and we were looking at trends and stats... one of the big trends, which this census seems to bear out, was a move from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt.

Much of the new tech industries are wisely locating themselves in warmer climes...


This also shows us that our pal Amonkie is bucking the trend. What a rebel.

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amonkie

I'm moving OUT of Arizona because so many people are moving here. Housing used to be affordable until 2-3 years ago when the boom began - the average house is selling for double what it was 5-10 years ago.

The job market here has grown, but with 80% of ASU grads staying in metro Phoenix area and more people moving it, it is getting too crowded for me.

Time to find a nice home in the cold snow for a while ... cause I'm such a rebel

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fresnelly

I'm guessing the big move into the Sun Belt, is made up largely of retiring Baby Boomers. The effects of this aging demographic well be felt in many ways.

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flstf

I'm with you. I like places with 4 seasons and that's where we moved to retire.

World's King

People wanna live in Utah?

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Carno

It's outrageous here on the Space Coast in Florida.. Housing prices have doubled in two years.

Way too many of yall are sending your old people here also. Either you guys stop sending me your old people or I will have to start killing some of them.

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Bill O'Rights

Yeah. It's like Colorado...only without the old hippies in Boulder.

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It is indisputable that true beauty lies within...but a nice rack sure doesn't hurt.

xepherys

Where is it that you live then? I lived the last 28 years in Michigan, and our 4 seasons had shrunk to roughly 2.5 seasons. We had a decent summer, a long, cold and dreary winter, and about 3 weeks each of spring/autumn. When I was young, Autumn was a beautiful time of year. Now it's basically the trees are green, two days later they're yellowish, within a week they are red, and by the following week you're raking three entire trees out of your yard.

Arizona is certainly different, but I'll take sun in December of dreariness!

Charlatan

I am curious to see how these trends will be reflected in the political landscape of America.

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kutulu

I was born and raised here in Phoenix. I guess I understand why people come here. It may be excessively hot in the summer but it's sunny with a high of 77 today. It sucks buying a house here but in reality the market isn't that bad. Housing costs are still about average here. I'm having a new home built. 1600sqf for $246,000

snowy

I live in Oregon--a lot of our population growth has been 1) due to an increasing population of migrant workers, 2) moderate housing prices/great liveability in Portland, and 3) well, Oregon's just a great place to live, why WOULDN'T you want to live here? Oh, yeah, rain.

I have a feeling former Gov. Tom McCall is rolling in his grave. For those of you not familiar with Oregon history, Gov. McCall was one of Oregon's best-loved politicians, known for protecting our beaches, instating our Bottle Bill (the first of its kind in the US), and developing the urban growth protections Oregon is well-known for. McCall was well-known for the following quote, and I agree whole-heartedly: "We want you to visit our State of Excitement often. Come again and again. But, for heaven’s sake, don’t move here to live."

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Charlatan

...his other less known quote:

"For Christ sake! It's pronounced Ora-gun not Ora-gone."

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"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

World's King

Utah is nothing like Colorado. Our liquor laws aren't ruled by a religion. That's the only difference.

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Willravel

I've even considered a move to Oregon, and I'm perfectly happy here in California. That's wierd.

eribrav

I get these ads in the mail for jobs all the time.

Many of them hit you right up front with "rapidly growing metro area" or some analogous chatter. They go directly in the garbage. In the U.S. at least that's code for "endless suburban sprawl, traffic, and McMansions in an area with no soul".

Rodney

Nevada's growth comes from:

* People moving there to retire -- land is cheap. Most of the retirees are from California cashing out $600K for a 1600 square foot home in the Bay Area for half again the house on ten times the lot at half the price out by Carson City.
* Businesses moving there -- usually, small-to-medium-sized businesses that have most of their customer base in California, and find they can still serve their Cal customers while paying much less tax, much less on rent, etc.
* The growth of Las Vegas as a destination.

Although most Nevadans would not want to hear this, their growth largely comes from them becoming more and more a satellite of the California economy. Even Las Vegas, which gets business from all over the world, would be shy one lung without the California business. When California sneezes, Nevada catches a cold.

I've seen Nevada -- at least the places where most of the people live -- and my evaluation ranges from "okay but nothing special" (Reno) to "You gotta be kidding" (Las Vegas), and all those lonely isolated towns dotted at great intervals along the interstates. Vegas in particular is growing fast because of the growth of the resort factor there, and the fact that housing is still cheap enough (and casino/hotel salaries good enough) that career hotel staff and resort staff can afford to buy a house. Try that in Long Beach.

I see nothing wrong with any of this. But the boom is fragile. Like I say, when California sneezes.... Put another way, if there were a collapse in real estate prices in California, how many people would still want to move to Nevada? And what would happen to housing prices there? A lot of Nevada's appeal depends on market forces (real estate prices, California disposable income) and gov't artifacts (high taxes vs. low taxes) that can change. Add to that the fact that the new big source of water for all the growth in LV is coming from a _water table,_ not a renewable water resource.

I'll be very interested to see what happens in Nevada over the next 20 years -- whether it crashes when California does, or strengthens enough off California to find its own way when bad times come.

ziadel

um, slingshots are illegal in new jersey.

you can have that state, I won't even step foot in it.

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snowy

I think you'd find Portland is the one exception to that theory. Portland has long espoused a theory of smart growth. We have an urban growth boundary in place that keeps most growth in check--any development outside of the boundary has to go before the Metro council. Approval is hard to get--Metro would rather encourage the redevelopment of older, faltering areas than add more square miles to the mass of the Portland area. I like that idea--compared to Seattle, Portland undergoes more urban and suburban renewal more often. It also encourages more up growth versus outgrowth, resulting in more greenspaces (also something important to Metro), and an easy proximity to wide open spaces despite being a metro area. Don't get me wrong--we have our fair share of problems: traffic being the biggest, I think.

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analog

i don't understand why the author of the article seems to be confused by this movement... like there's any room in the northeast. the northeast is freakin packed. I'm not even sure where all these people are finding room in delaware, which I saw on the list of growth. the midwest is nothing but space... shitloads of it. The south is fairly spread out and open as well. the northeast isn't growing like that because there's just no room.

And to echo World's King, who the hell wants to live in Utah or Idaho? For everyone who thinks America is ruled by religion, you haven't seen shit until you go to utah or idaho, where the local religion is so high a percentage of the population, it effects their state laws. It's nuts.

StanT

When I moved to Colorado in 1999, the state was #2 or 3 on this list. Housing prices were out of sight (compared to IL) and the local infrastructure couldn't keep up. The downturn in the economy hit Colorado pretty hard and I'm not sure that is all bad. Things are a bit more sane these days. Housing prices are still outrageous, but stable. Jobs are coming back slowly and the number of people leaving seems about the same as people arriving.

Like Oregon, we love tourism as long as you go home when your done.

Bill O'Rights

See, now nobody wants to come to Nebraska. Not to live, or to visit. Hell, even our license plates, and our soon to be state quarter, sport that god-forsaken covered wagon. What's that, anyway? It symbolizes people who are just "passing through", and trying to get the hell out of here as quickly as possible. Nice imagry of state pride. People falling all over themselves to get from one end to the other, just as fast as they can. Buncha corn fed goofball legislators.

Oh...and another thing. When Nebraska's state quarter comes out next year, it's gonna have a big phallic looking thing, behind the covered wagon, called "Chimney Rock". Has anyone outside of Nebraska heard of Chimney Rock? I didn't think so.

__________________
"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." - Susan B. Anthony

"Hedonism with rules isn't hedonism at all, it's the Republican party." - JumpinJesus

It is indisputable that true beauty lies within...but a nice rack sure doesn't hurt.

pan6467

The thing that will come back to bite places like Phoenix... Hell most of Arizona and Las Vegas in the ass is the water. There isn't enough to support the booms. When people have to start paying truly outrageous water and sewer bills you'll find those areas will adjust and people will move away real fast.

Although, I do love Phoenix. Even the 120 degree days.

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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

Rodney

The other day, for fun, the wife and I were looking at real estate for sale on eBay. We found a listing for a bed and breakfast at a very cheap price in Broken Bow, Nebraska. We'd never heard of the town, so we checked it out on the net.

Oh... my... god... everything bad you ever heard about the plains states, they've got in Broken Bow. Low wages -- some work laborers and waitresses (not much, though), but even the cops get paid less than $20K a year. Shrinking population. Citizens fighting to keep local schools open. Houses they're giving away. Six-foot snow drifts already on the ground. Poverty. And _nothing_ to do: along with a cheery note from the Chamber of Commerce that, in honor of the Christmas shopping season, downtown shops will stay open until 7 pm every night. Wowsa.

Bill, I doubt that you live in Broken Bow, but the fact is that there are probably about as many people _from Nebraska_ living around this nation as people who are actually living in Nebraska now.

Bill O'Rights

No. I live in Omaha. However, I do go deer hunting near Broken Bow, and...yes, it is every negative stereotype, of the midwest, all rolled into one dusty streeted little community. They do, however, have a good little greasy spoon diner that serves up a huge assed ham steak. Though, somehow, I don't think that ham steak is gonna do much for their tourism.

__________________
"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." - Susan B. Anthony

"Hedonism with rules isn't hedonism at all, it's the Republican party." - JumpinJesus

It is indisputable that true beauty lies within...but a nice rack sure doesn't hurt.

CoachAlan

Hell yes I've heard of Chimney Rock! Haven't you ever heard of the greatest game to grace a schoolroom? It's called Oregon Trail, and many an hour of my youth was wasted in the computer lab playing that game. Chimney Rock, as you obviously know, was an important stop along the Oregon Trail, and even our old Apple II C could capture its magnificent form.

Anyway, I live in Vegas, and we are the fastest growing big city and the second fastest growing small city (Henderson, a suburb). Personally, I love it. Sure the traffic cones everywhere can get annoying, but there is a huge benefit to all the recent growth: master planning. It's impossible to drive and to park in older cities like Chicago and New York, because those cities weren't neccessarily made with cars in mind. Vegas is just the opposite. Our new communities are built with an eye toward the future. Parts of town where nobody even lives yet have seven lane roads running through them. Why? Because you can bet that there will be tens of thousands of people living there shortly. And when they do, the infrastructure is ready.

Prices here are still lower than California. For example, I live in a 1400sf townhouse with a two car garage in a new area, and it's selling for about $260k. And work? If you can't find a job in Vegas, it's because you don't want one (or you work in some wierd specialized field).

I will say, however, that my town sorely lacks culture. We have Blue Man Group, a few art museums, and now a few major musicals; but they're all in casinos, and they're all fleeting. Nothing in Vegas is permanent. We embrace the present and future at the cost of our past. Unfortunately, when you're playing to the whims of tourists, that's the way it has to be if you want to continue to thrive.

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Grasshopper Green

Yep. For some godforsaken reason, they keep coming. And actually, BOR, there are quite a few hippies here. I live in a "hippie" neighborhood.

15 years ago Utah was white. It was extremely rare to see anyone of any color but white (except for some odd reason, Tongans) outside of Salt Lake. We have a lot of immigrants now, mostly Hispanic. Utah is slowly, slowly becoming less homogenized. I still don't know why they want to live here though. I sure as hell don't want to.

As for housing, forget finding anything in Salt Lake City itself for less than 200,000 that isn't a complete dump. The house next to my apartment is going for 350,000....it's 70 years old and has two bedrooms. Ten years ago my parents were looking at a similar house for around 100.000. I really don't know if that is an average increase or not, but it seems a little high to me. Hubby and I have ruled out living in the city when we start house hunting. The suburbs still have houses that are affordable.

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Rodney

The reasons are strictly economic. A lot of immigrant Latino families in California, legal or otherwise, hear from friends and relatives in Utah that they could afford to rent a house of their own on service industry wages, maybe even someday buy. That's not possible in California. So they follow their relatives who are already there and stay with them a while while they get established.

I've heard of this happening as a general thing, and did see it happen once personally with a family I know.

Frowning Budah

20 years from now and everyone will be moving back to the North.

Business move because the labor and land is cheaper, people move because that is where the jobs are. Economy gets moving fast and suddenly the South is too expensive.

I moved to Florida 6 years ago and already see it happening here. Guess what our office is now moving to Indianapolis.

ngdawg

New Jersey is too expensive to live in any more. I covered this in a journal entry, but the value of my little shithole of a house was just upped to over $297k!!!! It's about 1800 sq ft on a 50ftx100ft lot-porch is in need of replacing, no sidewalks....property taxes on average just in my town are over 5 grand...People are picking up and moving to North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina because they can sell high here and buy there for cash with plenty left over.
Blue collar jobs here are dwindling-car manufacturers, etc have pulled up stakes and moved elsewhere for cheaper labor, better tax rates and cheaper land. I well suspect that in most any other state besides maybe California, saying one makes $25 an hour sounds good-in New Jersey, it's not a living wage.
My southern friends always ask me when I'll be a 'damned yankee'-one who moves south. Not a day goes by I don't give it a thought.

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Rodney

It's not going to last. Most of my adult life, mortgage interest rates have been a lot higher than they've been over the last five-six years; I held a mortgage at 9 percent for years. When mortgage rates go back up, housing prices will decline, or at least stagnate at the current levels for years while inflation decreases the "real" price of the house year by year.

Watch. In a couple of years, people will no longer be buying houses with the assumption that they can turn 'em over in five years at a fat profit. That'll take a lot of the air out of the market.

In California, we have a boom and bust cycle in real estate that lasts about 10 years -- longer this time around, because the Fed lowered interest rates. Used to be, real estate agents told people buying at the top of a boom: "Go ahead, it's a great deal -- _If_ you're going to live in the house for five years or more." Because that would be long enough to outlast the bust. Now, the wiser heads in real estate in my town are saying, "go ahead and pay the high asking price -- if you're going to live there for _ten_ years or more." Which means they're expecting a prolonged dip or stagnation in real estate prices, worse than the usual cycle.

I'm not saying that NJ or coastal California real estate is going to be dirt cheap anytime soon. But in a year or two people will stop thinking that buying real estate at any price is going to make them rich in a few years, and in fact won't be able to pay the prices they're paying now. And that's going to change things. Both in states like NJ and California, and in the states that people are moving to in search of cheaper housing -- Nevada, Utah, and some of the others named above.

ngdawg

Even 20 years ago when we bought this house($92,500), we were called nuts by my family because of the 'ridiculously high price'. A couple of years later, the value increased by almost 30 grand but then we 'lost' 2/3 of that after 5 years. Two years ago, our house was valued at 200k, which made me almost fall over in shock....I fully expect the value to go back down in the next couple of years to a 'reasonable' 250k.
Every time I go to Charlotte, NC(about once or twice a year), there is building going on; it seems that area just keeps getting more and more 'yankee-ified' (read overbuilt). My brother-in-law, in the home building industry, has never had a 'slump' in the 20 plus years they've lived there, but the housing prices still don't compare to the northeast's exorbitancy.
I should think that after the hurrican seasons of 04 and 05, Florida would see a decline in the number of new residents, but guess that's not the case yet.

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Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.

noodle

Jacksonville is not nice. Forget it was on the list. I can barely afford my place now. No central anything and it floods like crazy. But it's my little rented space on the river in one of the few neighborhoods that haven't been taken over by the insane desire to rip out and burn every single tree and pour concrete slabs and slap cookie-cutter homes on it. Yes, we are the sterotype. Um... we've got guns, hurricanes, muddin' and old people driving around that shouldn't have a license as they can barely see over the steering wheel. Sunshine is overrated, the beaches are cold this time of year, and the roaches are bigger than your pets. You don't want to move here, I promise. Let us be. Shoo... g'way.

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bloodychill

It's no surprise to me that Nevada is the fastest-growing state considering Las Vegas is such a huge attraction for investors.

Rodney

Certainly. In the case of Las Vegas, what's not for an investor to like? Cheap land, low taxes, loose regulation, and the booming gambling/resort industry that brings in well-heeled visitors, puts spending money in the pockets of even many working-class locals, and seems capable of infinite expansion?

Essentially they're building a new Los Angeles out there, and they're doing it really, really quickly. Like LA, they are playing fast and loose with issues of urban planning and water resource planning. But their economy depends much more on vacation/resort business, and that may be a problem in hard times, when fewer can make the trip out into the middle of the desert. Sure, they still have gambling as a draw, but so does every other Indian reservation near a major metro area these days. The church ladies in my area are now taking gambling buses to the Chuchansi gold casino down by Fresno for their slot machine fix, not anymore the Nevada casinos.

DonovanDuVal

Where did apathy place?

I bet I'm the only person who finds that even remotely funny.

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