Moving South? It's not all it's cracked up to be (Detroit: gated, jobs)

[Sioux Flay]

I moved from Michigan, where I grew up, to New Mexico four years ago. New Mexico made me MISS my hometown of Flint, if one can believe that. I do realize there's problems everywhere, but overall New Mexico was such a cultural wasteland, though granted we lived nowhere near the Albuquerque-Santa Fe Corridor.
As much as my wife and I missed Michigan, we also knew that there was no future for us if we moved back to Michigan, so we looked to other places in the middle of the country, and in seven days we happily move to Northeast Nebraska.
Beyond the economics, it's amazing how much one misses snow when one has pretty much a NINE MONTH summer. It ROYALLY gets old after the first year.

[groove1]

I have been in Charlotte 6 years now and you have to remember that these stats typically apply to rural areas. While SC ranks high on that list, the school district I live in which is a suburb of Charlotte on the NC/SC border is consistently ranked among the top school districts in the nation. Also, look at the stats of people who hold degrees in cities like Raleigh and Charlotte. NC also has en excellent university system (as does Michigan).

[magellan]

I think the map clearly shows a county-by-county breakdown (and no these percentages have not changed dramatically since 2000, except that perhaps the entire country is getting a little peacher and oranger and redder, as U.S. income increases have slowed to a trickle):

[khfar]

Originally Posted by Sioux Flay

I moved from Michigan, where I grew up, to New Mexico four years ago. New Mexico made me MISS my hometown of Flint, if one can believe that. I do realize there's problems everywhere, but overall New Mexico was such a cultural wasteland, though granted we lived nowhere near the Albuquerque-Santa Fe Corridor.
As much as my wife and I missed Michigan, we also knew that there was no future for us if we moved back to Michigan, so we looked to other places in the middle of the country, and in seven days we happily move to Northeast Nebraska.
Beyond the economics, it's amazing how much one misses snow when one has pretty much a NINE MONTH summer. It ROYALLY gets old after the first year.

Oh, you poor thing. NM is a PIT. I hate that state, with the exception of Santa Fe. Even Albuquerque is nasty, to me. My husband is from NM originally, and his relatives all live there. I DREAD going to visit.

As much as I dreaded moving to MI, my husband and I did joke that it could have been worse: it could have been New Mexico. Actually, there could have been a lot of places that would have been worse than MI, in my mind!

[Sociologist]

Originally Posted by magellan

I think the map clearly shows a county-by-county breakdown (and no these percentages have not changed dramatically since 2000, except that perhaps the entire country is getting a little peacher and oranger and redder, as U.S. income increases have slowed to a trickle):

I like the map, per quo the areas that are in the reddest of red, (ie rural eastern Kentucky, mountainous regions. Desert NM regions, and most areas that are extremely sparsely population) Although there are some areas on the map that do suggest big changes happening in the U.S. If it wasn't for founders we wouldn't be on the map right? cheers

[sumwunzma]

I don't know where you got your crime numbers from but when you look at the murder rate, by city, they fall like this:

Baltimore, MD
Detroit, MI
St. Louis, MO
DC
Newark, NJ
Kansas City, MO
Philadelphia, PA
Cincinnati, OH
Cleveland, OH
Oakland, CA

Not a southern city in the bunch. When you get down to #13 you'll finally find Memphis, TN. Then again, this was in 2005. I would venture to say New Orleans is probably #1 now. Shame that that's the only thing Louisiana will ever be #1 in.

[Michigan Aaron]

Originally Posted by sumwunzma

Not a southern city in the bunch. When you get down to #13 you'll finally find Memphis, TN. Then again, this was in 2005. I would venture to say New Orleans is probably #1 now. Shame that that's the only thing Louisiana will ever be #1 in.

And what is YOUR source for that ridiculous list? Are you going to sit there and tell us that Kansas City, Cleveland & Cincinnati have worse murder problems than Houston, Miami or Atlanta? That is one of the silliest things I've ever seen anyone post on this site. Just say you love the south, hate the north, and spare us the insulting fabricated stats next time.

[joenc]

Those are proper stats.

2005 Homicides per 100,000

Baltimore 41.3
Flint 38.4
Detroit 37.2
St Louis 37.6
Newark 35.5
Kansas City 28.3
Cincinnati 23.8
Cleveland 22.8

Atlanta 21.6
Durham 18.7
Houston 17.1
Dallas 17.0
Miami 14.9
San Antonio 7.5
Raleigh 6.9
Austin 4.0

The source is the FBI

[michiganmoon]

Originally Posted by sumwunzma

I don't know where you got your crime numbers from but when you look at the murder rate, by city, they fall like this:

Baltimore, MD
Detroit, MI
St. Louis, MO
DC
Newark, NJ
Kansas City, MO
Philadelphia, PA
Cincinnati, OH
Cleveland, OH
Oakland, CA

Not a southern city in the bunch. When you get down to #13 you'll finally find Memphis, TN. Then again, this was in 2005. I would venture to say New Orleans is probably #1 now. Shame that that's the only thing Louisiana will ever be #1 in.

And yet, southern states as a whole have bigger per-capita murder rates than northern states.

2005 murder rates per 100,000 people....

Southern States 6.6
Western States 5.8
Midwestern States 4.9
Northeastern States 4.4

Top States for murder rates in 2005:
#1 Louisiana 9.9
#2 Maryland 9.9
#3 Nevada 8.5
#4 Alabama 8.2
#5 Arizona 7.5
#6 New Mexico 7.4
#7 South Carolina 7.4
#8 Mississippi 7.3
#9 Tennessee 7.2
#10 California 6.9
#11 Missouri 6.9
#12 Arkansas 6.7
#13 North Carolina 6.7
#14 Georgia 6.2
#15 Texas 6.2

The south has extremely high murder rates compared to the north and midwest and has NO LEG whatsoever to stand on and look down upon the north in terms of murder rates. The south has much higher murder rates in small cities and rural parts than in the north.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by Sociologist

I like the map, per quo the areas that are in the reddest of red, (ie rural eastern Kentucky, mountainous regions. Desert NM regions, and most areas that are extremely sparsely population) Although there are some areas on the map that do suggest big changes happening in the U.S. If it wasn't for founders we wouldn't be on the map right? cheers

Actually sociologist, now that Summer's here, I've got Bell's Oberon chilling in the fridge at all times.