Pandemic flight boosted or hurt these 20 cities

Cheaper living among top factors in where people moved to and from

Cheaper living — haircuts are $15 in Phoenix and $16 in Nashville — is driving migration during the pandemic. (iStock)
Cheaper living — haircuts are $15 in Phoenix and $16 in Nashville — is driving migration during the pandemic. (iStock)

Lower taxes and other financial perks may be drawing millionaires out of New York and California, but what about those who aren’t sending rockets to the moon? Studies say they too are moving, looking for larger homes and cheaper living.

Austin saw the most newcomers between April and October of this year. Next is Phoenix, Nashville and Tampa, according to Bloomberg. At the same time, San Francisco’s Bay Area and New York City lost people.

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“Moving from a highly dense area to a less dense area allows people to potentially really enjoy some of their hobbies,” Josh Mungavin, a wealth manager at Evensky & Katz, told the publication. “Now people can chase their passions.”

Cost of living is a driving factor as expensive areas have seen the greatest exodus. Outbound moves in the Bay Area rose 8 percent in May through September, compared with the same period last year. Seattle and New York both experienced a 7 percent increase in departures, according to data from analytics firm Webster Pacific and United Van Lines.

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Jacksonville, Raleigh, Charlotte, Nashville and Phoenix were among the cities with the most inbound moves over that time.

A haircut costs $23 in San Francisco and NYC, $27 in Chicago, $32 in Washington, D.C., and $35 in Boston, but just $15 in Phoenix and Tampa and $16 in Nashville, according to the Council for Community and Economic Research.

Overall, top outflows between April to October, according to ZIP code changes on LinkedIn, were from Hartford, San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, Cleveland, Norfolk, Boston, Detroit, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

Top inflows were to Austin, Phoenix, Nashville, Tampa, Jacksonville, Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Charleston and Seattle.

[Bloomberg] — Sasha Jones
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-14/best-us-cities-to-move-to-during-covid-where-and-why-americans-are-relocating?sref=u4bIpjiR