Out of State Plates in Metro Detroit

[Coldjensens]

Mafia moving back in?

[DTWflyer]

I'll believe data if we see it, but my original hypothesis still stands.

It summer travel season, and yes there are people who have ties to the region who may live in NY that are perhaps visiting during the summer months.

Not to mention cut-through traffic coming across through Canada.

Or like my neighbor, who had a rental car for 3 weeks while her car was in the collision repair show, which was a rental car with NY plates.

Not to mention the huge number of people/snowbirds that register their cars in Florida and roll around with Florida plates to avoid our absurd insurance rates.

[Regajohn]

My current rental (Hertz from DTW) has Florida plates, and the majority of the cars I considered (pick your car and drive away) yesterday had out of state plates ... many of which were NY.
When I was up North for 3 weeks in July (in the aforementioned Petoskey/HS region) my rental was from Hertz at FNT, and it had out of state plates too. Although there are a significant number of out of state folks who drive in for their Summer vacation of course.

[scorpio516]

Originally Posted by Regajohn

My current rental (Hertz from DTW) has Florida plates, and the majority of the cars I considered (pick your car and drive away) yesterday had out of state plates ... many of which were NY.
When I was up North for 3 weeks in July (in the aforementioned Petoskey/HS region) my rental was from Hertz at FNT, and it had out of state plates too. Although there are a significant number of out of state folks who drive in for their Summer vacation of course.

That's a little odd. I think every car I've rented in the last 10 years has had Maryland plates, cause it's cheapest for the companies.

Originally Posted by Geo-Aggie

Necromancing a bit of a dead thread here today, but this summer I have seen so many New York plates that I wanted to bring it up again. I know some are still skeptical that this observation has anything to do with net migration, but given the state's growth (and the metro area's growth) as indicated by the 2017 census estimates and a number of other less tangible factors, I still believe it's valid and indicative of state migration in-migration.

Certainly some are visitors or here for business travel, but the number of New York plates I've seen over the last 4-5 months stuck in incredibly non-touristy areas makes me believe that there's a heavy migration element to this as well. I understand Detroit lost a ton of people to New York in the 1990s/2000s, I can't help but wonder how many are moving back?

Every day I see a ton of NH, CT and RI plates. I'm only 30 miles from RI (my wife works there too, and you see a ton of Mass plates in RI) and CT, and 35 miles from NH, so all that's to be expected. I see a lot of FL plates in the summer from snow birds, and year round from their families taking advantage of no excise taxes.
Lately there has been an uptick in NY plates too...

[Geo-Aggie]

Originally Posted by DTWflyer

I'll believe data if we see it, but my original hypothesis still stands.
...

Last year's data did show this, as more people moved into Michigan than left it in 2017. This was the first such gain for the state since before 2001.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...ion/108776928/

I predict next years census estimates will show a similar trend, possibly accelerating.

[DTWflyer]

Let me correct myself, I don't doubt the data that net migration in is more than out and there are people moving to Michigan from other states, I just don't draw the coorelation between the observation of out-of-state license plates and that being evidence that people are moving to Michigan from said states.

Its just not really a good indicator to base anything on.
You can't differentiate between out-of-state visitors, drive-thrus, rental cars, cars registered out of state versus recently transplanted residents.

I rent cars often for work if I have longer road trips from a neighborhood Avis location and more often than not I get cars with out of state plates. No idea how they end up there, but often its one-way rentals and/or directing rental fleet purchases from certain states.

[citidata18]

One theory is that more individuals are choosing to do road trips when visiting friends / family who still live in Michigan. With gas prices no longer being $4-$5/gallon, it's a lot cheaper than flying.

I did exactly that earlier this year, although I regret it now and probably won't so it again (only because of Michigan's poor road conditions).

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by canudigit

Yep, we drove all around the historic district and got out and walked around the square downtown. It is a lovely city, it must have been quaint before it became the next big thing for commuters from Atlanta.

Newnan has historically been more of a satellite city than a suburb to Atlanta.

During the civil war, it was a hospital town for confederate soldiers based out of Atlanta, So obviously, there was a ton of wealth within the town and is reflected in the quaintness you saw. When General Sherman burned down the city of Atlanta, he left Newnan unscathed for that reason.


In fact, it was one of the few small towns in Georgia to establish a publicly-owned power / water / sewerage system (Newnan Utilities).

But since I-85 was built and the 2000s real estate bubble led to a ton of speculative suburban development, it has become a full fledged part of Metro Atlanta.

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by canudigit

I'm curious as to why these people are considering Detroit instead of somewhere less expensive in the Sunbelt like so many others. Is it because they want to avoid the extreme heat and congestion? Is it because they see Detroit as the next boom town Cinderella story?

I admit, being a lifelong resident of the SE Michigan/NW Ohio area that one of the things that I love best about living here is that so many people in other parts of the country have written this area off as being too boring, too "rust belt", too cold, too gray, etc., etc. and pretty much left us alone. I honestly dread it if this area becomes a destination for people from other parts of the country. COL will go up and our way of life will be altered forever. Hopefully I am just making a mountain out of a molehill, but if Detroit were to become like Atlanta or Charlotte, it would affect even those of us living in the extreme outreaches of the area and it would be so depressing.

DH and I were in Georgia a few months ago and spent the night in a "small" town, Newnan, about 30 miles SW of Atlanta. Naively, we still expected it to be quaint and cute and pleasant but it was a nightmare of sprawl; subdivisions upon subdivisions, congested four lane highways, every chain restaurant known to man with lines even at 4 pm. Apparently it has now become a bedroom suburb of Atlanta due to its proximity to the airport via I-85. This is exactly what nobody I know wants to happen to the quaint small towns outside of Detroit and Ann Arbor. Hopefully the cold winters will deter people, as opposed to somewhere like Newnan where people move there for the warmer winters. God willing.

The thing is, once you put those interstates through small towns relatively close to big cities, you never know what could happen in terms of future growth.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.jou...lUMBO/amp.html

You may have or may not have noticed while in Newnan, but a new I-85 interchange is under construction and set to open in a few months. Other than the local hospital, it's all nothing but cheap vacant land abutting one of the wealthiest census tracts in Metro Atlanta. So naturally, developers are already land banking real estate within a few mile radius of the junction for new shopping centers, subdivisions, and other amenities.

Newnan is also attractive because it has far less traffic congestion than the northern suburbs, the county it's in has much lower property taxes than other suburban Atlanta counties (looking at you Peachtree City) without sacrificing safety / school quality, and it's the perfect half way point for a lot of transplants to reside that still want to have the perks of a major metro area while working in places like Columbus, GA (much smaller and much more southern) or at the Kia plant in West Point, GA.

Honestly, Newnan would be an even bigger deal and grow even faster if it were close to a ton of tech/finance jobs like Mariettta or Alpharetta.