Was reminded of this thread when I saw a sudden outcropping of "
UNC in DC" ads on the Metro. Sure enough, UNC offers MBAs up here, but not in Atlanta, and it's not because there's a wide-open market.
The
net migration flows between 2008-2012 show a much stronger flow of people to/from the DC metro than the Atlanta metro.*
Wake County - Atlanta metro: Wake lost 156 people
Wake County - Washington metro: Wake gained 409 people
Durham County - Atlanta metro: Durham gained 140 people
Durham County - Washington metro: Durham lost 430 people
(Now, I knew that Wake & Durham have
very different migration flows, but the fact that these are completely symmetrical is
fascinating.)
Historically, a lot of these flows run along
railroad or highway corridors. It's worth noting that it wasn't until
after the Civil War that railroads connected the Triangle to Georgia (via Charlotte), and that
before the Interstates, US 1 ran directly from Raleigh to DC but getting to Atlanta required turning off US 64.
[Atlanta 10 metro counties: Cherokee, Cobb, Douglas, Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Fayette, Clayton, Henry, Rockdale. Washington 10 metro counties: Prince William, Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington, Alexandria, DC, Montgomery, Prince George's, Anne Arundel, Howard]