Economic vibrancy, or retiree migration

At New Geography, Joel Kotkin is trumpeting a Wendell Cox study that supposedly reveals Americans still love sprawl. "For all the talk of how the Great Recession has driven people — particularly the 'footloose young' — toward dense urban centers, Census data reveal that Americans are still drawn to the same sprawling Sun Belt regions as before," he writes. But there is less here than meets the eye in Cox's and Kotkin's "net domestic migration" figures. Of the 51 largest metro areas, New York City lost 1.9 million people to domestic net migration in 2000-2009 — "the biggest loser," Kotkin chortles — and lost 99,000 more in 2010-2011. Yet the New York metro region has gained more than 2.5 million in total population since 1990, 853,000 since 2000, and 129,000 between 2010 and 2011. Net domestic migration reveals enormous numbers of New York retirees heading south for warmer weather — and often tax breaks — and doesn't necessarily say anything about economic vibrancy. An international city, New York attracts immigrants from around the world. So does Chicago, which lost 53,000 to domestric migration from 2010-2011, and is also steadily gaining population.

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