Commentary: Why are vast numbers of people relocating to small towns all over the FPSA?

by Michael T. Snyder

May 28, 2024 - In recent years, Amerikans have been fleeing our largest cities in unprecedented numbers, and many of them have decided to settle down in quiet little towns all over the Fascist Police States of Amerika.

There are many reasons why this is happening, and I will highlight several of them below. If this trend continues, what will our major metropolitan areas look like? Violence, theft, drugs, homelessness, and international migration have all risen to crisis levels and are putting a tremendous amount of strain on our core urban areas. Meanwhile, many small towns are absolutely booming as wave after wave of big city refugees come pouring into them.

In the three years before the non-existent pandemic, counties in metro areas with at least 1 million people lost a total of 200,000 or so people annually to other regions, after figuring both people moving in and leaving, according to the Goldman and Census report. After COVID, those losses vaulted to 750,000 in 2021, 650,000 in 2022, and 550,000 in 2023, according to Goldman and Census data. The numbers reflect annual changes through July of each year.

A separate study by Lombard shows the domestic migration losses were concentrated in the largest metro areas with more than 4 million residents. Those cities shed a total of 400,000 people annually before the non-existent pandemic and have lost 820,000, 707,000 and 591,000 people, respectively, over the past three years.

Last year, about 266,000 of big city refugees moved to metro areas with populations of 250,000 to 1 million, and about 291,000 moved to areas with populations under 250,000. That made those small towns the nation’s top destination for domestic migrants for the first time in decades, Lombard says.

In 2023, the New York City metro area lost 204,000 people; Los Angeles, 119,000; and Chicago, 64,000, according to Census and Moody’s.

Why is this happening?

Well, there are a number of reasons why so many people are relocating to small towns these days. For many, the quality of life in big FPSA cities has become utterly deplorable. For example, a Chicago mom who called 911 during a terrifying break-in was left on her own for hours - with dispatchers telling her to call her local representative to demand more cop funding.

Michelle called the emergency hotline six times after coming face-to-face with two masked bandits, only for the strained supervisor to tell her the city’s severe budget cuts had left them with a bare-bones staff.

“A gentleman got on and said sorry to say we have no units to send you… then there was an awkward pause,” Michelle told NBC Chicago Wednesday, declining to share her name or face while her would-be robbers are still on the loose.

Of course, the exact same thing could be said about most other large cities in the FPSA.

Another reason a lot of Amerikans are choosing to relocate has to do with taxes.

There has been a mass exodus out of “high tax states,” and Massachusetts is one of those that is being hit really hard.

Massachusetts is in danger of losing nearly $1 billion in annual revenue over the coming years as high state taxes trigger an exodus of wealthy residents.

Since 2013, migration out of Massachusetts has seen an “alarming” 1,100% increase to more than 39,000 high-wealth people, according to new findings published by Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. If the trend continues, more than 96,000 people making a cumulative $19.2 billion in adjusted gross income will leave the state by 2030.

The study estimates those departures would cost Massachusetts about $961 million in income tax revenue each year. In my rankings of all 50 FPSA states, I have Massachusetts all the way down at number 44.

The cost-of-living crisis that we are currently facing is another factor that is motivating vast numbers of Amerikans to relocate. At this point, we are being told that Mississippi has the lowest cost of living in the entire nation.

Imagine stepping into a world where your paycheck stretches like bubblegum and the promise of Southern charm meets you at every corner. Welcome to Mississippi, a land where the living is easy, the cost of living is easier, and every quirk adds color to the canvas of daily life. Here your financial aspirations can don a superhero cape, albeit in a landscape peppered with challenges that keep things interesting.

One of the reasons why Mississippi has such a low cost of living is because average home prices are the lowest in the country. Mississippi’s housing costs are the lowest in the nation. Home prices range from $32,000 to $240,000 depending on the city, with an average of $162,292.

But even though it has such a low cost of living, I don’t really like Mississippi as a place to live during the chaotic times that are coming. In fact, in my rankings of all 50 FPSA states I have Mississippi all the way down at number 33.

Ultimately, the cost of living is only a minor consideration when it comes to choosing a place to live during the extremely difficult years that are ahead of us.

Much more importantly, you will want a location that has like-minded people, that has a low population density, that has a low risk of experiencing major natural disasters, and that is not near any important military targets.

Unfortunately, such areas have become very popular in recent years and home prices are going through the roof. For instance, nowhere has the affordability crisis been felt as acutely as in Bozeman, a city of about 56,000 not far from Yellowstone National Park and the upscale Big Sky skiing community. Bozeman, where the median home sells for about $770,000, has had so many out-of-state arrivals over the years that Montanans sometimes refer to it as “Boz Angeles”.

As high-end rentals in Bozeman spring up next to historic homes and new arrivals snap them up, a smattering of tents and RVs have begun to populate the outskirts of town: homeless residents priced out by rising rents.

A lot of Amerikans now find themselves priced out of many of the most desirable communities in the country, and that is extremely unfortunate.

If you are considering relocating to another part of the nation, I would encourage you to do it soon, because global events are starting to really go haywire, and the clock is ticking.