Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, mate. I'm oscar mirrors from the Daily Dive
Speaker 1: podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America. New
Speaker 1: census figures are showing that big cities have been in
Speaker 1: a decline. The largest cities lost a greaterst share of
Speaker 1: people than small and midsized ones. New York, San Jose,
Speaker 1: and Chicago saw the greatest numbers of people leaving, while
Speaker 1: Texas and Arizona had seven of the ten fastest growing cities.
Speaker 1: All of these migrations were accelerated by the pandemic and
Speaker 1: work from home capabilities. Paul Overburg Report at The Wall
Speaker 1: Street Journal joins us for why people are leaving. Thanks
Speaker 1: for joining us, Paul, thanks for having me. Well, let's
Speaker 1: talk about some of the demographic changes that we saw
Speaker 1: in big cities throughout the pandemic. You know, at the
Speaker 1: very beginning of the pandemic, we started seeing this migration
Speaker 1: out of big cities, especially once worked from home and
Speaker 1: the remote work thing really started getting into into action.
Speaker 1: But that trend ended up continuing. We saw a lot
Speaker 1: of big cities, especially on the coast, to people moving
Speaker 1: inland to cheaper, bigger homes, things like that. But it
Speaker 1: seemed to have been a trend that continued throughout the pandemic.
Speaker 1: So Paul, tell us what we're seeing there. Well, the
Speaker 1: Census Bureau has just released new population estimates for cities
Speaker 1: for the year that ended last July one, so effectively
Speaker 1: the first year of the pandemic, and these estimates show
Speaker 1: that that s and D that trend has continued. The
Speaker 1: biggest cities have had major losses of to three percent
Speaker 1: of their populations from the mid and even smaller mid
Speaker 1: midsize cities half a million to a million. A lot
Speaker 1: of those, even ones that have been growing in the
Speaker 1: years before that, so are small losses or basically flat growth.
Speaker 1: And so where did we see the biggest losses? Any
Speaker 1: cities in particular that saw the biggest migrations out New
Speaker 1: York and San Francisco sort of stood out. New York
Speaker 1: plus three and a half percent of its residents in
Speaker 1: a year, what's about a third of a million people.
Speaker 1: San Francisco lost more than ex percent, which is not
Speaker 1: as many people against San Francisco smaller. But you can
Speaker 1: see smaller losses all around the Bay Area, in the
Speaker 1: cities around that area, including areas that have been growing.
Speaker 1: So it's not just the core cities themselves. You can
Speaker 1: see the same sort of pattern in cities like Los
Speaker 1: Angeles and Chicago, and even on down the line if
Speaker 1: you go to places like Nashville or Seattle and Atlanta
Speaker 1: and Denver, places that were growing up until the last
Speaker 1: couple of years. And it's not just the pandemic. There
Speaker 1: were some signs of this starting even in before the pandemic,
Speaker 1: a combination of other demographic factors. Part of it is
Speaker 1: peak numbers of baby boomers are now reaching retirement age,
Speaker 1: and uh they find that they can sort of tash
Speaker 1: out of owning a home for ten or twenty years
Speaker 1: and moved to a less congested, slower paced place with
Speaker 1: a lot less expense. At the same time, millennials. Millennials
Speaker 1: are exactly right in getting time for the families and
Speaker 1: looking for that bigger space for those growing parts of it.
Speaker 1: They were also a big part of people moving out right. Millennials,
Speaker 1: the oldest millennials are now reaching their mid thirties, and
Speaker 1: they didn't didn't marry and have children at the same
Speaker 1: pace at earlier generations did. But now because there's so
Speaker 1: many of them, they're having an impact on things like
Speaker 1: the housing market, especially the house a housing market for
Speaker 1: places where you'd raise a family with more space and
Speaker 1: good school districts and things like that. So that's a
Speaker 1: piece of this movement that was already starting, and the
Speaker 1: pandemic is just sort of accelerated. Now more people are
Speaker 1: participating in this move for those reasons, but also because
Speaker 1: they weren't enough space to be able to work from
Speaker 1: home if that's an option with their employer, and where
Speaker 1: are a lot of these people going to. Texas and
Speaker 1: Arizona had seven of the top ten fastest growing cities
Speaker 1: with fifty people or more between one, so Texas and
Speaker 1: Zona getting a big chunk of those people. Florida and
Speaker 1: Tennessee also in these top ten cities, right, you can
Speaker 1: see a lot of the cities that are growing fast. Obviously,
Speaker 1: they're at the small end of that range, that fifty thousand.
Speaker 1: The census spirit uses to kind of sort of set
Speaker 1: a floor on this places that are out and sort
Speaker 1: of what you might think of his ex urban locations
Speaker 1: around uh say, these major areas. So a fair number
Speaker 1: of spring Hill, Tennessee, which is you know, well outside Nashville,
Speaker 1: and Buckeye, Arizona, which is well outside Phoenix and several
Speaker 1: other places around Phoenix on the outskirts and the edges
Speaker 1: of it, like places that are now are actually fair
Speaker 1: size cities you may not have heard of, like places
Speaker 1: like Goodyear and Buck and Eye. Right, Yeah, and so
Speaker 1: you spoke to a lot of people that made these moves,
Speaker 1: that made these moves to different states and cities completely
Speaker 1: and for the most part, they're very happy with the
Speaker 1: changes there. Their houses are bigger now, their mortgages are
Speaker 1: they feel might be a little more pro read because
Speaker 1: of the interest rates and stuff like that. So a
Speaker 1: lot of them very happy with the moves. Right. My
Speaker 1: colleague Janet Atomy spoke with a couple of folks, one
Speaker 1: family that moved from Portland, Oregon to a little bit
Speaker 1: e town on the upper Peninsula of Michigan and was
Speaker 1: very happy with all the changes in their life because
Speaker 1: they've got more room and they can do She and
Speaker 1: her husband can work remotely. So yeah, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of families sort of reaching the transition points in their lives,
Speaker 1: and the pandemic sort of nudge some people or pushed
Speaker 1: some people to sort of make decisions and make moves. Yeah, definitely,
Speaker 1: I mean the work from home thing has been a
Speaker 1: big game changer for a lot of people, and they've
Speaker 1: taken advantage of it. So, I mean there's a lot
Speaker 1: of It's a big common theme we heard throughout the pandemic.
Speaker 1: So we'll keep seeing if these trends do continue. Paul Overberg,
Speaker 1: reporter at the Wall Street Journal, thank you very much
Speaker 1: for joining us. Thanks for having me. I'm Oscar Ramiers
Speaker 1: and this has been reopening America. Don't forget that. For
Speaker 1: today's big news stories, you can check me out on
Speaker 1: the Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday. So follow
Speaker 1: us on I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcast.