What is the future of your family in New Jersey? Will your children ever be able to afford their own home? Is there a brighter future elsewhere in America?
Yogi Berra had a perceptive talent for capturing a lot of the truths we miss in our lives. None was more insightful than his observation about the changing national landscape and the fact that the future for young New Jerseyans is not what is was a generation or more ago.
Yes, Millennials Really Are Fleeing the State. The Data Say So.
Contrary to some of the latest headlines, the recently released report commissioned by New Jersey Policy Perspective does in fact show that there is currently a net out-migration of Millennials from New Jersey, corroborating New Jersey Future’s 2017 report. The fact that Millennials are leaving the state is not a myth.
The data in the report showed that indeed Millennials are leaving both New Jersey and its neighbor states. Whether they are leaving faster, slower, or at the same rate as the previous generation of young people — for which appropriate data to support these assertions do not exist — does not change the fact that this generation is looking to live elsewhere. The young-person migration issue and the NJPP analysis are analogous to saying that our state’s water is polluted and has been for some time and is about as polluted as the water in neighboring states. It’s interesting to know this information and that we are consistent, but we still have a problem.
Recent college grads are leaving N.J. in record numbers. Here’s why.
As another college graduation season comes to an end, and a whole new set of millennials enter the job market, the prospect of recent graduates simply moving out of their parents’ homes is dimmer than ever. According to Census data, 47 percent of 18-to-34-year-olds in New Jersey were still living with their parents in 2015, the highest rate in the country.
The situation shows little sign of improving, either: Data released earlier this month by the National Low Income Housing Coalition says tenants need to make $27.31 an hour, the seventh highest in the country, to afford the average two-bedroom apartment in New Jersey. That makes it virtually impossible for someone making an entry-level salary to afford his or her own place, at least not without teaming up with multiple roommates and/or forgoing other necessities.
Three of the top five states people are moving out of are in the Northeast, one study finds.
Three states in the Northeast — New Jersey, New York and Connecticut — landed in the top five places people were moving out of fastest, according to 2017 data from United Van Lines.
The Northeastern exodus is particularly acute in many big cities like New York City for people of all ages. Since 2010, more than 1 million people have moved from the New York area — which includes parts of New Jersey, Connecticut and Long Island — to other parts of the country.
So why are so many northerners packing their bags?
Reason No. 1: The insanely high cost
Data released by personal finance site GoBankingRates.com reveals that the No. 1 financial fear of people who live in the Northeast is that they will have to live in debt forever; the Northeast is the only region of the country that ranked this as No. 1. (The other regions put retirement as their No. 1.)
And no wonder they’re worried. The cost of living across the region is among the highest in the nation, and three of the five most expensive states or districts in the country (New York, Washington D.C., Massachusetts) are in the area. (The other two states are Hawaii and California.)
Reason No. 2: The horrendous weather
We told you winter was coming to the North — and it’s so bad that many people are leaving the Northeast in search of better weather. Indeed, the largest migration between states is from New York to Florida, according to data from the Census Bureau. And simple looks at recent winters in the Northeast explains why. For example, in 2015, Boston had its snowiest winter on record, and New York City had one of its snowiest blizzards on record in 2016.
Reason No. 3: The jobs
Many companies are setting up shop in warm and less expensive places, which means that people pondering getting out of the Northeast can now find work. Texas, for example, has seen massive job growth since the recession — and some of these jobs are in fields you wouldn’t normally think of as being in Texas. For example, tech: Google, Apple, Dropbox and Oracle all recently built or expanded offices in Austin, along with many others.