Why Workers Without College Degrees Are Fleeing Big Cities

Why Workers Without College(ˈkälij) Degrees(dəˈɡrē) Are Fleeing(flē) Big Cities

By Eduardo(edəwərdō) Porter(ˈpôrdər) and Guilbert Gates(gāt)

Last month the Census(ˈsensəs) Bureau(ˈbyo͝orō) confirmed(kənˈfərmd) a confounding(kənˈfound) dynamic(dīˈnamik) taking hold across the American landscape(ˈlan(d)ˌskāp): Superstar cities, the nation’s economic(ˌekəˈnämik,ˌēkə-) powerhouses, hotbeds(ˈhätˌbed) of opportunity at the cutting(ˈkədiNG) edge(ej) of technological(ˌteknəˈläjək(ə)l) progress, are losing people to other parts of the country.

For the first time in at least(lēst) a decade, 4,868 more people left King County(ˈkoun(t)ē), Wash. — Amazon’s home — than arrived(əˈrīv) from elsewhere in the country.

Santa(ˈsan(t)ə) Clara County, Calif.(-nēə,ˌkaləˈfôrnyə), home to most of Silicon(ˈsilikən, ˈsiləˌkän) Valley(ˈvalē), lost(läst,lôst) 24,645 people to domestic(dəˈmestik) migration(mīˈgrāSHən), its ninth consecutive(kənˈsekyədiv) annual(ˈanyo͞oəl) loss(läs,lôs).

The trend(trend) is becoming widespread(ˈwīdˈspred). Eight of the 10 largest(lärj) metropolitan(ˌmetrəˈpälətn) areas(ˈe(ə)rēə) in the country, including those around New York, San Francisco(ˌsan frənˈsiskō), Los Angeles(-ˌlēz,läs,lôs ˈanjələs) and Miami(mīˈamē), lost people to other places in 2018. That was up from seven in 2016, five in 2013 and four in 2010. Migration out of the New York area has gotten so intense(inˈtens) that its total population shrank(SHraNGk) in 2018 for the second year in a row.

As the chart(CHärt) above shows, 30 of the 44 largest counties, with populations above one million, recorded more domestic outflows than inflows of people in 2018.

This growing flow of people out of the hotbeds of innovation(ˌinəˈvāSHən) and economic(ˌekəˈnämik,ˌēkə-) activity underscores how lopsided(ˈläpˌsīdəd, ˌläpˈsīdəd) the distribution(ˌdistrəˈbyo͞oSH(ə)n) of opportunity has become.

Places like Cupertino(ˌko͞opərˈtēnō) and Mountain(ˈmountn) View in Santa Clara County may still offer the best, most highly paid opportunities for the highly educated(ˈejəˌkādəd) — lawyers and programmers seeking jobs at Apple or Google. The median(ˈmēdēən) family in that county makes $122,700 a year. In King County it is $105,512, way above the national median of $76,000.

The problem is that workers without a four-year college degree don’t earn anywhere near that much.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/21/business/economy/migration-big-cities.html