The housing meltdown has turned migration flows on their heads. Of the top 20 fastest-growing states, all but four showed slower growth this year compared with last year and only one of the top 10 (Colorado) grew faster, according to an analysis by William Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution.
"A giant share of it is housing," says Robert Lang, co-director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech. "One, you can't sell a house. You're stuck. Two, there's no job growth attracting people to those states." Lang says every previous recession had one thriving state or region that lured people. This time, no place is immune.
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Utah was the fastest-growing state, most of the increase from a high birth rate and immigration.
Immigration is slowing almost everywhere, Johnson says. Nationally, immigration slipped 9.6% from the average annual rate this decade, he says.
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