Plenty of anecdotal evidence, based on the number of people in my town who moved here following the Paradise fire. Yet while data is the plural of anecdote, I don't have anything to say it's statistically significant.
But according to the Jetpunk Charts, California is growing at a rate of 0.8 percent per year. So it isn't entirely shrinking. Yet, it quickly shrunk in a period of two years. Only a sudden event could cause that.
California mostly grows because of immigration and relatively high birthrate. Both those factors have been affected this year. The outward migration of longtime residents has been increasing for roughly the past decade but seems accelerated this year. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2021.
But the wildfires are way worse now than they have been in the past. I don't think it's a major reason why people are moving out of California now, but I have a hunch it might be a more prominent factor in the coming decades.
I know a couple who lost their home to a wildfire that was driven by the dry, 55 mph El Diablo winds and she barely made it out alive, driving alone through her burning neighborhood with flaming trees falling all around her. The fire destroyed 25 percent of their city and more fires have burned parts of the city since. Then they learned that they could only receive full insurance compensation if they built back on the same property, but new regulations added through the years made that cost-prohibitive. They elected to take less insurance money and move to another house which has since been threatened twice more by fire. Two couples they know have given up and moved to Idaho. The wildfires are getting larger and more frequent in CA and the air quality stays bad for weeks afterward. I realize this is anecdotal and wildfires aren't the only reason people are moving, but after hearing their story I believe they are a factor and it's only going to get worse.
@kapulani3 Wildfires in California are a normal occurrence, but have increased in number and severity in recent years. Also, it is incorrect to say that "no one" moves because of them. Some do. In fact, my Uncle and his family moved for this very reason.
There’s way too much time most people can type all the states in this time. I think I did around 45 before I finished with around 50 seconds left. Maybe half the time?
I agree. After I finished the quiz, I went back and did it again - not by guessing but by typing all states . . . I learned them as a kid in alphabetical order. After I finished, I still had over a minute left.
West Virginia was also interesting. I knew it was shrinking, but I had no idea it was that rapid. Apparently, it has the highest death rate in the nation. In 2017, 4500 more people died in the state, than the number of people who were born in the state that year.
I once would have thought it first but since I know of so many people moving there I thought it was growing. Since we are still in 2020 I'm wondering if these numbers were from earlier in the year (census) and as the year progressed people are moving in.
Something weird just happened. First of all, I didn't do very well but that's not it. I only got half right but I only guessed the hardest eight correctly. The easier ones eluded me. Quite the anomaly.
I'm really happy that there's only one midwestern state here. States like Michigan and Ohio have been through I lot so it make me happy to see that they aren't still going downhill.
I've never visited US, but if there is one thing I've learned from these quizzes, it's that, if it is about something negative or wrong within the states, West Virginia will be there. Always.
48/50 states showed population growth in 2024. The only outliers were West Virginia and Vermont.
However, many (most?) states would be losing population if not for large amounts of international immigration.
Thanks!