Majority of the nation’s ‘happiest’ cities are in California

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by whell

Not much "myth-busting" going on there, Chickie. All blue states on that list.

Meanwhile, California is just south of nice blue states Hawaii and Mass as the most expensive places to live. Unsurprisingly, the top five states that folks are moving out of are mostly nice and blue:

New York

Illinois

Hawaii

California

Louisiana

While those (mostly blue) states (and mine, Maryland) are indeed relatively expensive to live in, the upside is that once you get into the real estate market in those states you have an asset that will continue to appreciate unlike those in deep red states where nobody wants to live and work (if gainful employment even exists in those states (e.g., Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia)).

In other words, states that are cheap to live in are often cheap because fewer people want to spend their working years there because of shitty job prospects, lousy schools and fewer cultural amenities. After spending a life building a nest egg in these blue states with their plentiful high-paying jobs, appreciating real estate, good education and cultural amenities, retirees often want to move to places that are cheaper because they no longer need a job or good schools for their kids and they want to cash out their hefty nest eggs that they built in blue states.

Anecdotally, I know plenty of people who have moved to places like Florida due to lower taxes and warmer weather, but none of them moved there during their working years. People that move during their careers move for advancement/opportunity and that advancement is generally more available in blue states than red states (look at the average income and education levels in blue states vs red states (it ain't even close)). Go to the economically vibrant blue cities and states and you'll find that a significant percentage of people you meet come from elsewhere and came for the opportunities while in red cities and states, you find a large percentage of people are locals who don't have the experience or education to make it in a more vibrant economy are are effectively trapped in the home states.