Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
There's a third group of people: those who move to the South and ultimately dislike it, but stay anyway because moving back North would require admitting that they were wrong and made a rash decision.
Excellent point! In my opinion I think that this is probably the majority.
I'm just curious, because this is the time of the year where you see a hundred posts here on C-D that look something like this:
My wife and I live in Long Island/New England/New Jersey/Ohio/etc. and we just cannot stand this cold weather/high taxes for one more day! We want to move to North Carolina/Tennessee/South Carolina/Georgia/Florida because we want to be somewhere warmer/cheaper. We don't have jobs lined up, but how hard can that be? We don't know a soul down there, so we hope to make good friends with our new neighbors. We are leaving all of our immediate friends and family behind, but we just know we'll love it once we get there and that won't matter. Does anyone know were a couple of non-religious liberals can move in the Southeast where we will be happy and feel right at home? Oh, and where we can be at the beach and the mountains within a couple of hours and find great New York style pizza and a bar to watch the Giants?
I mean, seriously, how many of these folks actually move South and actually end up liking it and staying? I'm really curious, because it seems so obvious to the casual reader that they are moving for all the wrong reasons and haven't begun to think it through, and then you see a smattering of threads like this:
Oh, yeah, North Carolina/South Carolina/Georgia/Tennessee is great if you love having super religious neighbors who keep asking you if you have a church family and are two faced backstabbers the rest of the time, you love huge bugs that bite, you love weather so humid that your eyeballs sweat, and there is a Baptist church on every corner. Get a life, I can't wait to get back to New York/New England/New Jersey/Ohio/etc. where they at least know how to make a decent pizza! Sheesh!
I would say the percentage that move back is not very high based on the overall migration patterns. The south is one of the overall highest at retaining people that move here over the north, west, mid-west.
Yes, there are many that don't do their homework but you get the same that move to NYC or LA or "insert other city here" and don't do the research. They will just complain about other things such as the cost of living, being packed in, rude people, etc.
The ones you talk about that post the stereotypes are just venting on their own bad decisions.
When I moved down here we didn't have forums like this but I moved without a job and purely for the weather. I really didn't know anything about Florida except it was warm but that was all I was worried about. I am still here 23 years later.
Excellent point! In my opinion I think that this is probably the majority.
So they stay where they're unhappy? Does this affect how they treat those around them? If I lived somewhere where I was unhappy and didn't even have family to make it tolerable, I don't know how I would get through it month after month.
I would say the percentage that move back is not very high based on the overall migration patterns. The south is one of the overall highest at retaining people that move here over the north, west, mid-west.
Yes, there are many that don't do their homework but you get the same that move to NYC or LA or "insert other city here" and don't do the research. They will just complain about other things such as the cost of living, being packed in, rude people, etc.
The ones you talk about that post the stereotypes are just venting on their own bad decisions.
When I moved down here we didn't have forums like this but I moved without a job and purely for the weather. I really didn't know anything about Florida except it was warm but that was all I was worried about. I am still here 23 years later.
It really is awesome that it worked out for you that way. However I'd be willing to bet that the percentage of people who move south (or anywhere) as "blindly" as you did who have a story as successful as yours is lower, probably significantly lower, than the percentage of people who move back north after moving south.
It really is awesome that it worked out for you that way. However I'd be willing to bet that the percentage of people who move south (or anywhere) as "blindly" as you did who have a story as successful as yours is lower, probably significantly lower, than the percentage of people who move back north after moving south.
Well I don't encourage people to do what I did. I had no family to worry about and I was 25 so it made it much easier. And of course the success of those that don't research before a move is going to be significantly lower than those that research properly.
My point was, it doesn't matter which way you move, be it the young girl going to LA to be an actress, the young kid with a business degree that is going to make it in NYC, the guy who want to move the family to Chicago for what ever reason. If you don't research you can end up in a bad situation.
Guess you missed THIS post, by that same user, almost exactly one year later:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boonieboy
Totally had that happen. I lived in Atlanta for a while and moved back to NYC for work and family but now I really really miss Atlanta. I am actually getting my s*** together to try to move back and settle down for good. Great weather and driving city, the roads were so clean, I really miss driving in GA. NYC is a joke. Hopefully in another couple of months we'll be able to move back down. People are also friendlier than most of the North East.
To answer the original question though, isn't it too early to tell? I'm not aware of any mass migratory patterns from formerly (or currently) fast-growing Southern/sunbelt cities back to where they came from. But if there are some stats out there let me know...cities like PHX and the TX metros are still showing sustained growth, and much of it from northern areas. Not sure about anything east of Texas though.
I'd say time will tell whether climate and cheap real estate is enough to keep former northerners in the south. Maybe give it a few more years and lets see what happens, or maybe the 2020 census will be telling.
I moved south (to Houston) for the right reason - a job and to experience something different from my east coast roots. I had 26 great years there and have many positive things to say about the dynamic city of Houston. That said, after completing a satisfying career, I returned east to get back to my roots. I am happy to be back where there are four distinct seasons, urban density, good mass transit, progressive politics and laws, and value placed on historical preservation.
I moved to the South (North Carolina) from St. Louis about 4 1/2 years ago because my husband was in the Marine Corps and based there. At first, I was looking forward to the move as it was something new and different. In less than a year, I couldn't wait to move North of the Mason Dixon line again! We finally moved back to St. Louis when DH got out of the Marine Corps a little over a month ago.
In my opinion, the pros and cons of the south are as follows:
PROS:
The Winters aren't as harsh (although Winters don't usually bother me). In the 4 winters I lived there, I only experienced snow during 2 winters.
The Beaches are pretty, and Mrytle Beach is great for weekends / vacations any time of year
The cost of living is lower than the North East (but not nearly as low as areas of the Midwest)
CONS:
Although the cost of living is lower, wages are much lower also- so it's all relative.
Even with a Masters Degree, I had difficulty landing a decent job. The job I eventually held for the time I was in NC was probably the lowest paying I'd had since I was 18. Also, being a non-Union state (as is much of the South), working conditions, salary, etc were lousy compared to what I'd become accustomed to.
Unemployment in NC is among the highest in the nation, at almost 10%. Other areas of the South aren't too far behind (GA, SC, and KY all have unemployment higher than the national average).
Summers are PAINFUL. For too large a chunk of the year (in my opinion), the Summers are atrocious. The heat + high humidity = horrid!
I found it to be culturally boring. I realize that people's views will differ on this- but I'm one of those people who enjoys world class museums, theater, art galleries, etc. I personally found NC to be lacking in comparison to the Northern states. It was subsequently not a place I wanted to start a family as I felt they would lack exposure to these things.
Not liberal enough. Although I don't mind areas that are somewhat conservative, they do call the South the 'bible belt' for a reason. Plus, in some areas you'd think that the South had won the Civil War, or that it was still raging. Closed mindedness was definitely prevalent.
Mosquitoes. Sure, they have them here in St. Louis too- but they were definitely worse in NC!
When it does Snow, they don't know how to deal with it. Everything shuts down!
Honestly, my list could go on and on and on. I realize that not everyone will agree, but the South or North Carolina in particular just wasn't the place for me- and not a place I'd want to raise my family. Sure, it's great for a beach or mountain vacation, but that would be it. I wouldn't want to live there permanently.
With that said, I didn't really move there for the wrong reasons (I had no choice as DH was military), and I really wanted to love it- but I just couldn't. There definitely wasn't enough to encourage me to stay there.
EDIT: I do have to add though, that I DO love Nashville. If I did have to live in the South, Nashville would be far and away my #1 pick as it's close enough to the Midwest to take advantage of the culture the North has to offer, while still offering Southern hospitality.'
DOUBLE EDIT: Yes, I'm one of those people who moved and then complained... however... I didn't exactly move for the wrong reasons as I said (no choice in the matter!)
Interesting...
I have a neighbor from St. Louis and he says he will never move back because of the pro's and much of the con's you mentioned.
Part of what prompted this inquiry is the "regrets" threads that I see here on C-D and other relocation forums, and part of it is personal experience. We were in the Myrtle Beach area last year and I met a lady who worked at one of the touristy venues there who had relocated from upstate NY a few years earlier. I mentioned that she must enjoy not having snow to deal with and, like, instantly, her eyes welled up with tears and she told me that her goal was to be back in NY within the year, and that she would absolutely KILL to see snow again. She said they had moved south to get away from snowy winters, and yet, there she was, literally crying over how much she missed snow! I also met a lady from New Jersey who worked in a boutique in Georgetown, SC, who was telling us that the slow pace of life in SC was so annoying to her and that she was looking to move back home in the not too distant future.
It makes me wonder how much it really is the weather for most people or how much of it is not being contented and thinking that the grass is greener and then finding that it isn't, and that the very things that you think you are running away from are the things that are inherently a part of who you are and sort of, for lack of a better way of putting it, make you "complete", KWIM?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
