Based on an analysis of recently released U.S. Census data on migration and population shifts, the Brookings Institution is calling Florida the state with “most dramatic migration turnaround story” of the past decade.
The report says that the Sunshine State, once the unsurpassed “migration magnet,” lost more migrant population than it gained in the last two years of the decade. During 2000 through 2005, Florida led all states in domestic migration, but the trend slowed as the decade progressed.
“Clearly a poster child for the foreclosure crisis, Florida was not the only state that shed its mid decade growth image,” according to the Brookings Institution report, entitled “A Rollercoaster Decade for Migration,“ authored by William H. Frey, Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program.
In the latter part of the decade, Nevada showed a net domestic migration loss, and Arizona experienced only a scant increase in migrant population.
New York and California, two states considered “large migration donors,” continued to lose domestic immigrants in recent years, but at a slower rate than in the earlier part of the decade. Residents who moved from these states contributed to the Sun Belt surge in the middle of the decade. But New York lost the fewest number of domestic migrants of the decade between 2008 and 2009, pointing to a significant slowdown in the exodus.
The housing crisis, economic downturn, and mobility implications from Hurricane Katrina and the 9-11 terrorist attacks all contributed to the population shifts and migration patterns over the past decade.
Overall, immigration to the U.S. from other countries declines over the last few years. “As with domestic migrants, immigrants have also responded to the recent economic downturns by ’staying put’ or in some cases, returning home,” says the Brookings Institution report.
These population shifts will have both economic as well as political implications for states as the current decade unfolds. The next reapportionment of Congress will be determined by the 2010 Census.