Census: Americans Are Fleeing Big Cities in Search of Cheaper Homes and Open Spaces Farther Out.

Americans are leaving the nation’s big cities in search of cheaper homes and open spaces farther out.

Nearly every large metropolitan area had more people move out than move in from 2000 to 2004, with a few exceptions in the South and Southwest, according to a report being released Thursday by the Census Bureau.

Northeasterners are moving South and West. West Coast residents are moving inland. Midwesterners are chasing better job markets. And just about everywhere, people are escaping to the outer suburbs, also known as exurbs.

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
Associated Press Writer

Full Story: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FLEEING_BIG_CITIES?SITE=IDLEW&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

(Many thanks to Bill Gillis at the WSU Center to Bridge the Digital Divide http://www.cbdd.wsu.edufor passing this along. Russ)

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Population Loss In Large Cities Is Linked to Cost of Housing

The 1990’s exodus to other states from California and from the Northeast appears to have eased since 2000, but not in metropolitan New York, a Census Bureau analysis says.
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The Midwest is still losing residents, and the West is gaining. The South remains a magnet for migrants, but the influx of new residents has declined steeply outside the South Atlantic region.

The analysis, which is being released today, looked only at people moving from one place to another in the United States and did not take into account people arriving from other countries.

Maine, Rhode Island, Maryland and Wyoming, which lost population to other states in the 1990’s, have gained residents from elsewhere in the country since 2000.

By SAM ROBERTS

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/20/us/20census.html?_r=1&oref=slogin