The question needs to be asked why are Americans jumping ship and leaving California, New York and other cities in the United States for new locations?
This is internal migration within the United States of America, not migration to other nations, particularly the English-speaking world and Europe.
People migrated due to better economic prosperity or an escape from persecution immigration to the United States since the 17th century experienced waves of immigration from war-torn Europe, particularly the English exporting its religious extremists to the North American continent.
People also tend to move locations due to economic prosperity and the perception of a better future, an example of this is the gold rush of the late 19th century to California.
Now America is experiencing a new rate of internal migration, with over 600,000 people leaving the state of California and New York in 2022.
Americans Jumping Ship to New Locations
In recent years 88 United States cities with a population of over 250,000 of these, 77 of these have experienced a shrinkage of the population or a slowdown in growth due to the mass exodus from American cities, which is having companies desperately trying to hold onto talent found within cities.
Cities are economic powerhouses where traditional manufacturing exists, and greater access to Labour can be harnessed within one location.
If we look back to the 19th century, 80% of people lived on farmland and sustained themselves through agriculture, and today people working in agriculture in developed countries hover around 4% of their population.
With 77 of the 88 cities having low productivity or a loss of population, the United States may be experiencing 87.5% of United States cities in serious trouble in coming years.
The reason why there may be trouble is without a young population that is paying taxes and keeping the local economy running, the local legislators and governments of the cities and states, depending on how internal taxation works within the United States, the cities and government benefits will no longer be sustainable in the long-term.
Without taxation, there can be no government programs or benefits because, without taxation, there must be services that keep modern cities running.
The 2008 Credit Crisis
In the year 2000, the trend for people to move away from cities began with bankers lending to People who would not traditionally be able to afford mortgages to buy houses in the suburbs.
The moment these mortgage interest rates went up meant that certain people never paid back their mortgages, triggering the 2007 housing crisis, which collapsed the global economy in 2008.
During the 2008 credit crunch, banks lost over US$1 trillion in bank loans and toxic assets; between 2007 and 2009, people were kicked out and forced to leave their properties where they were forced to move back in with their parents, moving to apartments or alternative living arrangements like being homeless.
After the 2008 credit crunch and collapse of the US housing market in 2007, cities began to grow again due to a lack of options or options being taken away so that people could no longer live in the suburb.
Due to this devastating event and lack of access to credit, the millennial generation put off raising families and made more significant focus on their careers.
However, according to geopolitical analyst and political analyst Peter Zeihan, the millennial generation is the most underqualified in United States history.
This levies the underskilled workforce the USA need to run its economies, and by the time the next generation is ready, it will be in the 2040s in terms of overall skills in years the millennials have at least lost half a decade.
From 2021 to 2022, the United States experienced a decline in city populations of 0.95%; this is the first time in recent American history that its cities have experienced a population decline.
The Loss of Population in American States
With Americans jumping ship of its 50 states, these are the divided territories of the United States governed by each state under the leadership of the central government led by Washington DC in the office of the president of the United States of America.
Of these 50 states in 2022, California, New York, and Louisiana experienced the most population loss from their states of population.
In 2022, California lost 343,000 of its current population, 39.2 million, to internal migration within the United States of America.
New York lost 300,000 of its current population of around 19.8 million, and Louisiana lost 46,600 people, with its overall population of approximately 4.6 million, to internal migration within the USA.
The trend of people leaving these three states began in 2020 with American citizens trying to escape large cities due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, which some individuals saw as draconian and infringing on American liberties.
For People who are not American, it is essential to remember the context of the founding of the United States in rebellion against its whole nation Great Britain starting in the American Revolutionary War from 1775 until 1783, with the United States declaring its independence in 1776.
With this history, the United States population is naturally in certain areas of its people, and political culture is antic central government authority because it was a central authority which the founding fathers and the 13 colonies rebelled against in 1775.
A further example of Americans being firmly against the central government’s power is during the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865 when the southern states rebelled against the US federal government based in Washington over the divide between state and federal government’s rights.
Another interesting fact to highlight about this event is that American politics allows large-scale disputes, at least on paper, to be resolved through an armed conflict like the Civil War rather than have issues resolved peacefully.
This is baked into the American political culture that these kinds of conflicts can be resolved at the point of a bayonet.
It’s also important to highlight that the New York state area of New Jersey lost 64,200 people to migration in 2022, and Connecticut lost 13,500 to migration.
The fall in these populations can be linked to the financial services that dominate these states’ economies, and with people not moving back to big cities having experienced the countryside or urban areas, it is seeing the wealth transfer out of major cities.
This can be further seen in Massachusetts, which lost 57,000 residents in 2022 to internal migration.
Losses of these populations in New York and Massachusetts could be a precursor of economic depression in the Northwest of the United States, with the New York economy making 8% of the total USA GDP and Massachusetts making up 3% of GDP.
This means these two states are worth 10% of the American GDP. The continuing population loss will lead to lower tax revenues, many cities cannot run their public services, and the local economy will collapse if this trend is not reversed.
There is a strong correlation between people leaving states with big cities, with Illinois losing 141,600 and Pennsylvania 40,000 people to migration within the United States.
Also, eight out of the ten largest cities in the United States have recently lost some of their population; these states which are losing people to internal migration are New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Houston, San Diego, Dallas, Chicago and San Jose.
Sources and Biography
https://realestate.usnews.com/places/rankings/fastest-growing-places
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/14/975826704/why-america-is-moving-money-space-family-lifestyle
https://www.axios.com/2023/01/31/cities-pandemic-moving-trends
https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/features/states-move-to-from/
https://news.yahoo.com/americans-moving-urban-counties-141924038.html
https://theweek.com/travel/1020498/why-are-americans-moving-south
https://www.nar.realtor/blogs/economists-outlook/where-people-moved-in-2022
Social Media and Other Links
LinkedIn Link https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-riley-b463881b4/
Blog Link https://renaissancehumanism.co.uk/
YouTube Link https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCChWzkJjCwD37gmvugB9a_g/featured
Anchor Link https://anchor.fm/renaissancehumanism
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1DXGH7dTHgYE49sdmfv1C8
My Amazon author page https://www.amazon.com/author/jonathan1997
My Twitter https://twitter.com/Jonathan5080549
My Medium link jonathanrileywriter.medium.com
