Migration

Westward migration in the U.S. seems to be slowing, as jobs dry up overcrowding begins pushing people away.

Commentator Andrei Codrescu speculates that with the economy in dire straits, California may experience a population loss as people move back to the states they left in the Great Depression.

Cities like Portland and Austin have been magnets for young professionals. Amid the recession, these cities have few jobs to offer. But the hipsters keep coming.

California's population growth slowed to 1.1% according to the state Dept. of Finance, down from 1.3% last year. Current population is 38.3 million. The LA Times looks at southern CA growth while the SF Chronicle reports on Bay Area growth.

As climate change takes the form of higher sea levels and environmental disasters, millions of "ecomigrants" across the world have been on the move to find more environmentally habitable places.

It's one of those good news-bad news revelations: the housing and job crises are causing more people to stay put. NY's out-migration was the lowest since the Census tracked outflows in 1982. More residents left Florida than arrived, a first.

The U.S. Census Bureau released its report for the year ending July 1, 2008. It showed that the effect of the recession was to reduce domestic migration from the Northeast and Midwest to the West and Sunbelt. Utah was the fastest growing state.