If you had a choice of states.....

[sits in trees]

"At No.1 on our list, New York is expected to wave goodbye to 49,000 more people than it gains this year. The state has seen a steady loss of residents over the past five years, losing an average of 100,000 people per year. Karp explains that, because New York is a large state, it may report greater movement than others, but notes that population size is not the only reason residents are fleeing."

"More people are leaving New York than any other state, new population estimates from the U.S. Census show, making it one of America's most stagnant populations.

Experts blame the exodus — nearly 1.5 million people have moved out of New York since April 2000 — on high property taxes and fewer jobs, among other factors...

The Census study said New York's population grew by about 1.7% between 2000 and 2007, and now stands at about 19.3 million people. The population has grown slightly, according to the data, because birth rates are higher than death rates and foreign immigrants continue to pour into New York City."

"The Census Bureau now ranks New York the eighth-slowest-growing state, behind Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Rhode Island, West Virginia, North Dakota, and Louisiana. Although no new data are available for New York City, researchers say the city has fared better than the state because foreign immigrants are replenishing its population."

We are getting new blood in the state more than we are people moving here cause its so great.

yea this is the same story you hear every recession about how NY is going to become a ghost town and everyone is running south, heard this in the 70s 80s 90s etc etc. some how the doom theory never materializes and NY still has the highest paid for any profession, highest property values, and best business opportunities in the country..

[MuzzyLoader]

I like living in NYS... but if I ever wanted to move - I'd move to Logan, UT.

[DMC]

I made that choice. I picked Northern Minnesota, after considering others, including my home state of Georgia.

Anyplace has its plusses and minuses. Here, the initial cost of real estate was low, property taxes low and if I want to shoot on a range, I walk out my door to the range I have. Minuses are a long, hard winter (most years I get a few days of 35 below or colder. One year I saw -54, and that ain't wind chill.), poor job market and long trips to do any major shopping. Duluth is the closest urban center and that's over 100 miles of driving, each way.

If you move, make sure that you can support yourself for at least a year, without a job. Sometimes jobs can be had, but the periods are brief. I was an EE my whole working life, not much call for that here, so I had to do some stopgap work until I could make a farm start paying.  That sort of situation can make for some lean years, but, for me, it was worth it.

If the population in my area of NY hadn't mushroomed, and the taxes been a little lower, I'd still be there I've had regrets, but the positives have outweighed the negatives.

DC

[Doc]

There are an awful lot of places that look real good from the highway as we vacation through them. You never really get to see the ugly aspects of various locations until you have spent some significant time in them living day-to-day life. You can read all kinds of statistics and opinions, but nobody can evaluate any of those places for you because we all have differences as to what specific features are important to us, and what ranking those features really have for each of us.

I have vacationed in an awful lot of places that in the middle of bass season looked like paradise, but reality told me that I would never really like some of the other seasons.

We all have lived a significant amount of time here in NYS. We all know every little negative aspect because these stick in our minds a lot more than the positive features. We know state politics here because we live with it. We don't know the state politics in other places as well as we are familiar with all the little negatives here.

The one thing that stands out is that for all the negatives that we see here, we all still are here. How bad can they really be?

[WNYBuckHunter]

The ONLY reason I am here is because of my daughter. Once she is done with high school, chances are, Im done with NY state. We have already been talking about Kentucky or Tennessee, and what areas we would be interested in.

Honestly, if my daughter hadnt come along, I was getting things ready to move back to Florida. I was less than a month away from leaving when her mother told me she was pregnant.