Your City's Ex-Pats -- Where Did They Go?

[pete-rock]

So I'm reading the "Random" thread and I see that Dan made a reference to the "Buffalo Diaspora". That got me to thinking -- many American cities, particularly Northeast/Midwest Rust Belt cities, have large numbers of ex-patriots who've moved to new environs.

Dan has mentioned in other threads that practically half of the populace of the Charlotte metro area has some kind of Buffalo connection; South Florida is well-known for large numbers of New Yorkers; and I seem to remember lots of Detroiters embarking for Houston as a kid. This isn't simply a big-city phenomenon, either: I'm sure that many mid-size and small cities have their own diasporas, too.

Where did your city's people move?

[Michele Zone]

Where did your city's people move?

I was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia -- cheek to jowl with Ft. Benning, "Home of the Infantry". I imagine a lot of folks there join the military or marry a soldier and we disperse to military bases all over, finally settling wherever we were last stationed when retirement rolls around. For me, California is my last "duty station". Mr. Zone hopes to arrange one more duty station for himeself before he drops his retirement papers in a couple of years or thereabouts. I am not saying that I plan on living here the rest of my life but I also wouldn't be surprised if I did.

[Trinity Moses]

I was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia -- cheek to jowl with Ft. Benning, "Home of the Infantry". I imagine a lot of folks there join the military or marry a soldier and we disperse to military bases all over, finally settling wherever we were last stationed when retirement rolls around. For me, California is my last "duty station". Mr. Zone hopes to arrange one more duty station for himeself before he drops his retirement papers in a couple of years or thereabouts. I am not saying that I plan on living here the rest of my life but I also wouldn't be surprised if I did.

People are loath to leave Louisville, but hard times and "structural readjustment" that hit my generation out of high school (Class of '77) meant alot of out-migration. Going to a high school reunion in, say, 87, it seemed most folks went south....Florida and Texas and Atlanta. I was the furthest....the Bay Area of Cali.

I ended up in Ohio, where there ALOT of Kentucky folk, but most from Appalachia. I do two co-workers from Louisville, though...

Still, I think the diaspora from my generation headed South.

[jmello]

Where did your city's people move?

Bostonians move to Raleigh-Durham and Broward and Hillsborough counties in Florida.

[DBR96]

The "Pittsburgh diaspora" has ended up mainly in the following states:

- Virginia
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- Georgia
- Florida

Basically, the coastal South.

I'm convinced that Charlotte, NC has the most ex-Pittsburghers per capita of any city in the U.S. Other cities high on that list:

- Raleigh, NC
- Atlanta, GA
- Orlando, FL
- Ft. Myers, FL
- Ft. Lauderdale, FL (they have a Primanti Bros. on the beach here)

[Achernar]

People from suburbs of Birmingham, AL tend to move to:

• South Alabama
• North Alabama
• Mississippi
• a different suburb of Birmingham

So you know, pretty much all over.

[boiker]

THe original ex-pats of Peoria, IL ended up in Peoria, AZ. Bet you didn't see that coming.

[Kobayashi]

People from suburbs of Birmingham, AL tend to move to:

• South Alabama
• North Alabama
• Mississippi
• a different suburb of Birmingham

So you know, pretty much all over.

Alabamians I know tend to move to Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, or Florida.

Unfortunatly conservative southerners (they make up about 70% of the population) still have a very negative opinion of the north, you rarely see anyone move north of D.C.

[ablarc]

No one ever leaves Charlotte; it's too easy to make a living.

You can check out, but you can never leave.

[Kobayashi]

No one ever leaves Charlotte; it's too easy to make a living.

You can check out, but you can never leave.

Is that where you live?

[donk]

Considering I've returned to the City I was born in....

As for my previous home, lots of people head to alberta to work construction and in the oil patch.

Odd thing happened today, the waitress at the restaurant where my pictures are going to be hung is from NB, and we actually know people in common. One of the other tenants in my building is also from NB. Seems like lots of NB'ers head "down the road" and end up in TO.

People from the north shore of NB (Bathurst, Campbellton, Dalhousie) head to Moncton. Reason, it is a bilingual city and pretty close to home. Plus you can earn $9 an hour there. (seriously)

[Kovanovich]

The "Pittsburgh diaspora" has ended up mainly in the following states:

- Virginia
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- Georgia
- Florida

Basically, the coastal South.

I'm convinced that Charlotte, NC has the most ex-Pittsburghers per capita of any city in the U.S. Other cities high on that list:

- Raleigh, NC
- Atlanta, GA
- Orlando, FL
- Ft. Myers, FL
- Ft. Lauderdale, FL (they have a Primanti Bros. on the beach here)

There's a HUGE number of Pennsylvania natives in metro DC....There has got to be more people here from Pennsylvania than from any other state, including Virginia and Maryland. Lots of people from PA in Raleigh-Durham also (where I used to live)...Funny, growing up in rust belt Ohio, many people back there had PA roots, including my father...The Pennsylvania diaspora goes back at least to the Great Depression.

[drucee]

Memphians move to Atlanta--especially if they're Jewish and went to Emory. Owing to its location, other destinations of choice for Memphians are suburban St. Louis or Nashville (most middle-or-upper-middle class Memphians recognize Ladue, Chesterfield, or Belle Meade, and speak of them in the same reverent tones Chicagoans use for Highland Park or Lake Forest). Well-off Memphians will also take weekend shopping trips to St. Louis, Nashville, or Atlanta. Many also move to Chicago or Los Angeles. Of course, Memphis is doing a better job now than, say, ten to fifteen years ago at keeping its young population. Midtown and (especially) downtown are booming with new retail and residential construction.

[the north omaha star]

Omahans don't tend to leave Omaha. But the young people that do are moving to California, Atlanta, Dallas or Chicago. I am an anomaly that moved to the east coast. I've only met one other native Omahan since I've been Baltimore.

[mendelman]

Alot of Michigan ex-pats move to the Chicago area - like pete-rock and myself.

Also, alot move South and West, because they say they can't handle the winters anymore....babies.

[Plannerbabs]

Hoosiers tend to head north to Chicago, hence the large number of cars with Indiana dealer stickers and Illinois plates jamming I-65 on Sunday evenings....There are also a lot of snowbirds who end up staying in Florida. Lots of people graduate, leave as quickly as possible, swear they're never going to come back except for holidays, then end up back home again in Indiana a few years later when they have kids. I don't get it.

[LorenzoRoyal]

Out here in L.A., people tend to move to:

(1) Las Vegas, (2) Phoenix, (3) Oregon, (4) Washington, (5) Utah, and (6) Idaho. Basically they move anywhere in the West where housing is cheap.

[christopher dewolf]

toronto is the biggest destination for anglo-montrealers and vancouver comes in second. but there are legions of expat montrealers throughout canada and even the united states, most of whom left in the 1970s and 80s.

for young francophone montrealers, vancouver seems to be a big draw, maybe for its climate or maybe simply because it's on the other side of the continent and so laid-back. there is not a significant community of expat franco montrealers, though, since this city is the hub for french-speaking canada.

[Bear Up North]

Folks from Toledo and NW Ohio that I have known to skip town have mostly gone to the area slightly south of Tampa / St. Pete. A few guys I worked with years ago retired in Plant City, FL. A good (young) friend just moved a couple weeks ago to Lakeland, FL.

Younger folks I have known that skipped T-Town moved to Chicago. An older retired couple I know moved to Houghton Lake, MI.......in the near northern part of Michigan's lower peninsula.

Odd coincidence: My ex-wife is involved with the University of Toledo's Urban Affairs Center. They are currently studying the "Brain Drain" from UT......recent graduates moving to "anyplace but Toledo".

Bear

[jmello]

Bostonians move to Raleigh-Durham and Broward and Hillsborough counties in Florida.

I forgot Maine and New Hampshire. Cheaper housing, fewer minorities and same basic weather and culture.

[jresta]

People from Philly move to the suburbs or to the Jersey Shore. Occasionally they move to Delaware (still the suburbs). Otherwise they move to the west coast of Florida or around Ft. Lauderdale. Some people head to NYC for better fortunes but for the last few years in a row Philly's been getting more NYC transplants than vice-versa. I also had a bunch of friends move to Chicago a few years back. Chicago and NYC are really the only "acceptable" places to move to if you live in Philly. If you want to see people scowl tell them you're moving to Boston, DC, or LA.

[zman]

Seems my home town of Denver is filled with Ex-Pats. Seemingly a lot of Californians and Texans... who knows. So no one has moved from Denver I don't think, at least en masse.

I think a lot of Chicagoans (sp?) have moved here too. Go to a Cubs game at Coors Field and you'll know...

[bizzo34]

Alabamians I know tend to move to Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, or Florida.

Unfortunatly conservative southerners (they make up about 70% of the population) still have a very negative opinion of the north, you rarely see anyone move north of D.C.

That explains why the North Carolina fans visiting Syracuse for the NCAA Regionals refused to say anything good about the area, while the fans from Wisconsin and Philly said a lot of positive things.

[Zoning Goddess]

they go to N Carolina or Tennessee. Maybe south Georgia, occasionally.

[jmello]

Seems my home town of Denver is filled with Ex-Pats. Seemingly a lot of Californians and Texans...

You just crushed my dreams of relocation to the Front Range. Thanks.