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I would bet a large chunk of the more adventurous of them will move South, but concerning the coasts it will probably be an equilibrium.
Midwesterners tend to live their whole lives in one place.
Really? So those on the coasts move inland? Those in the south move to the Midwest? OR, do most New Yorkers stay in New York. Do most who live in California stay in California? Please tell me why you think only the Midwesterners tend to live their WHOLE lives in one place? I'd like to see how many east coasters leave the east coast, and how many west coasters leave the west coast. Curious, your statement...made with such authority.
I guess some of us here in the Midwest aren't too worried about whether Seattle and Portland are running out of water...we have plenty of our own, and we live here.
I was addressing that to edwardvanderbosch who seems to think the West Coast is only California.
I personally believe that over time the natural resources of the Midwest will make it more attractive than the coasts.
The Mid-West has something the west coast does not have!! Billions of gallons of FRESH WATER!!!!! You do understand you need that to survive right??!!!
The Mid-West has something the west coast does not have!! Billions of gallons of FRESH WATER!!!!! You do understand you need that to survive right??!!!
Fresh water can be moved to more desirable areas, though. And the costs for desal are plummeting.
Just because Lake Superior has, by far, the most fresh water in North America doesn't mean everyone is going to be looking to move to the frozen tundra known as the Michigan Upper Peninsula.
Most of my friends are mid-career and have no interest moving out of the states they are currently in. Most moved out because they couldn't find jobs in their fields here, in Michigan.
Most people that I've met have moved back tend to be for family or housing reasons.
That said, there are a lot of manufacturing jobs that go unfilled because people don't have the specialized training needed to run and fix the specialized machinery. It's not 'general labor' that these companies are looking for any more. So, there's a gap between the type of workers we need vs the kind of workers who are still unemployed because of the downturns in manufacturing.
It also depends on what industry you are in because health care and tech are booming up here.
Also, just because water can be diverted, a lot of people in the Great Lakes will fight to keep the water in our region. Diverting water will change our ecosystem and most of us don't want that. We love our Lakes! Don't forget that gets into international law too because Canada borders the Lakes too. They have a significant say in the matter.
Still sounds like a lot to me, depends on what you think "a lot" is. There's also relatively little reverse migration.
Actually there's more than you might think. There's still net migration from the Midwest to the west and south, but there are a lot of people who back-fill them. I know of my close friends about 1/3 of them moved from other regions into the Midwest, and all 5 people who work for me at work are from either Hong Kong, California, Florida and Pennsyvania.
Latest stats I found on google from the census, covering a 5 year period:
Midwest to South: 1,665,000
South to Midwest 1,270,000
Midwest to West: 857,000
West to Midwest: 716,000
Midwest to Northeast: 309,000
Northeast to Midwest: 313,000
So there are a lot of Midwesterners who moved away - 2,800,000 during that five year period, and I always hear the "stop sending all your people to Phoenix" and stuff like that. "Is everyone leaving?". But on the reverse you had 2,300,000 people move from other regions into the Midwest during that period as well. Throw in international migration and it's roughly break-even for the region depending on the year. It's just births over deaths that keep driving the total population higher each year by a few hundred thousand.
If you want to see serious bleeding out, look back in the late 70's, when the Midwest lost around 1,500,000 people to the south and west over those it gained from those regions. About three times the 500,000 rate of today (these are five-year periods, not per year).
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