“Americans are moving far less often than in the past, and when they do migrate it is typically no longer from places with low wages to places with higher wages,” Tim Noah wrote in Washington Monthly. “Rather, it’s the reverse.” …
Americans aren’t simply moving to the states with the lowest unemployment (Oregon, Tennessee, and North Carolina all have jobless rates above the national average). More importantly, we aren’t moving to states with the best records for low-income families getting ahead. In fact, we’re often fleeing the best places for a upwardly mobile middle class. …
This doesn’t make much sense if you envision American families rushing to the most promising metros. It does make sense if you see American families rushing to the most affordable homes. …
The sad irony is that density is a good predictor of upward mobility, but sunbelt cities with affordable housing often sprawl deep into the exurbs, where families aren’t anywhere near the best jobs. The very thing that makes those cities attractive places to get to also makes them bad places to get ahead. … the allure of cheaper housing … often leads families to cities with the worst social mobility. The instinct to “go west” might doom families to go nowhere, at all.
