Looting in NYC, June 2020.
Photo: Andrés Correa Guatarasma / Courtesy
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut – the regions that make up the tri-state area – are among the five states that suffered the most pronounced population losses in the US, according to a new survey.
New Jersey led the nation with 70% of out-of-state moves compared to just 30% who arrived in 2021, according to the 45th Annual National Removal Study of the transfer company “United Van Lines”.
Illinois, the state that hosts Chicago, was in second place with 67% of recorded resident movements leaving their state, while only 27% were inbound.
New York ranked third, with 63% moving out and 37% arriving. Nearly 30% of those who fled the Empire State said they “family” was a main factor in their decisions, with around 12% citing the “cost” of living.
The survey also showed that the exodus largely involved the wealthy, who earn $150,000 or more, making up 45.3% of the total.
It is not clear in which months those movements took place, but in April 2021 the state of New York adopted a record budget of $212 billion dollars that focused on big revenues with new taxes that increased up to 10.9%, he recalled. New York Post.
Meanwhile, 6 of the top 10 metropolitan areas that suffered the worst exodus were in the New York-New Jersey region. Nearly 80% of movements in Long Island’s Nassau-Suffolk counties were outbound, the highest rate of any region in the country. About 75% fled from Binghamton and 73% left Poughkeepsie/Dutchess County.
Three areas of New Jersey (Bergen-Passaic, Newark and Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon) also had the worst exit rates. Neighboring Connecticut fared little better: 60% of recorded moves were outbound and 40% inbound. For the entire US Northeast region, 60% of moves were outbound.
Y sunny California also joined that trend, ranking 5th among those who moved, with 59% fleeing the state and 41% arriving.
Coincidence or not, those five states with the highest exit rates have a few things in common: they are run by Democrats, they have high taxes and suffer spikes in crime.
The survey also found that retirees are moving to less populated areas in hot, sunny states like Florida. For example, 6 out of 10 residents who moved from New York were age 55 or older.
The 2021 results confirmed “United Van Lines” findings from 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic first devastated the NY-NJ metro region and then the entire country, with a parallel rise in crime.
“The study also revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic continued to accelerate many decisions to move, indicating that Americans have moved to lower density areas and to be closer to their families over the past year,” United Van Lines said in a statement.
In contrast, the least populous and also Democratic Vermont had the highest incoming migration in the US, at 74%. The other top entry states were South Dakota (69%), South Carolina (63%), West Virginia (63%), and Florida (62%).
In the local case, it has strengthened a trend that had already been going on since 2018, with a loss of population in New York, both the city and the state, partly fleeing from the taxes and costs, and a decline in the quality of life in variables such as education, health, safety and transportation, according to studies prior to the pandemic.
Last year it was announced that New York would have one less Representative in the Lower House of the National Congress and would also see its federal funds reduced, due to a drop in its population growth in recent years.
eldiariony.com
Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.