Forget Naples, Fla. or Scottsdale, Ariz. for your next satellite office. Lubbock, Texas might be a better fit. A recent Wall Street Journal story finds the recession has had a profound effect on migration patterns in the U.S., reversing the flow of people to former housing-boom states such as Florida and Nevada, the latest data from the Census Bureau show.
According to the Journal, in the year ending July 1, 2009, Florida — once the top draw for Americans in search of work and warmer climes — lost more than 31,000 residents to other states, the Census Bureau reported. Nevada lost nearly 4,000. The numbers are small compared with the states' populations, but they reflect a significant change in direction: In the year ending July 2006, Florida and Nevada attracted net inflows 141,448 and 41,640 people, respectively.
"The recession coupled with the mortgage meltdown stopped the dominant migration story of the last decade in its tracks," William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, told the paper. "The real question is when the Sunbelt states are going to be able to come back. These new numbers suggest no end in sight."
