December
29
2009
Presented by the Brookings Institute, new Census numbers released last week underscore an often unnoticed consequence of the what Time magazine called the “Decade from Hell”: a topsy-turvy pattern of population movement both across the U.S. and into its borders over a 10 year period which is ending with the greatest migration slowdown since the end of World War II. These migration shifts were affected by a series of events that include a mid-decade housing bubble, followed by the financial crises and Great Recession, in addition to the mobility implications of Katrina and the 9-11 terrorist attacks. They led to boom, and then bust experiences for much of the South and West as the decade began, and windfall gains for northern and coastal states that were major donors to the earlier Sun Belt surge.