Daily Real Estate News  |  October 6, 2009  |   Americans on the Move Choose College Towns
Forbes magazine studied the percentage of residents, one year or older, who moved into the 100 most populous Metropolitan Statistical Areas in 2008.

The two cities that are the least desirable destinations for relocation are Detroit and – surprise – New York City. Los Angeles and Chicago also had low levels of newcomers.

Cities that attracted the most new residents tended to be college towns. "You have an educated population, and you have a large youthful population," says Alexander von Hoffman, senior fellow at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. "These places retain people after they've graduated, and attract like-minded people."

Some Florida retirement centers are also high on the list of places with lots of newcomers, but Sean Snaith, director of the Institute for Economic Competitiveness at the University of Central Florida, says this doesn’t tell the whole story. He says Florida’s population growth has actually slowed considerably in the last few years, although it’s still attracting some newcomers.

Cities with the most newcomers are:

• Colorado Springs, Colo.
• Provo, Utah
• Bakersfield, Calif.
• Austin, Texas
• Raleigh, N.C.
• Columbia, S.C.
• Cape Coral, Fla.
• Lakeland, Fla.
• Palm Bay, Fla.
• Bradenton, Fla.

Source: Forbes, Francesca Levy (10/01/2009)