Wednesday, June 25, 2014

The Death of Urbanization in the United States

America is becoming more rural, less urban, at Pacific Standard magazine.

Theme: Ironic demography.

Subject Article: "Impacts of Return Migration on Rural U.S. Communities."

Other Links: 1. "It’s the Birth Rate, Stupid."
2. "Educated workers are flocking to San Francisco, the middle class is moving to Atlanta."
3. "Fearing Urbanization."
4. "Mayor Aims to Reverse Detroit Exodus: Mike Duggan Says If He Can't Boost Detroit's Population, He Doesn't Expect to Be Re-Elected."
5. "Metro Detroit’s Foreign-Born Population."
6. "'Immigrant suburbs' emerge in latest census sweep."

Postscript: The positive net migration from metro to nonmetro surprised me. Cleveland's brain gain surprised me. Funny how often demographic analysis seems to be at odds with conventional wisdom. Population change is not a normative metric. But treating population change as good or bad is the main ingredient in the demographic surprise.

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