The 10 cities workers are flocking to and the 10 they're leaving

Publish date: 2024-07-30
2024-01-12T11:01:01Z

America's workers are reshuffling themselves, and some big cities that used to be able to lure in young professionals are instead experiencing major losses.

Over 100 LinkedIn members per every 10,000 moved to the North Port-Sarasota metropolitan area in the last 12 months, according to LinkedIn's January 2024 Workforce Report. Meanwhile, over 100 LinkedIn members for every 10,000 left College Station-Bryan in Texas and Urbana-Champaign in Illinois during the same period.

Four of the top 10 metro areas attracting the most people between January 2023 and January 2024 were in Florida. Many are moving for the weather, the slower pace of life by the beach, the state's lack of income tax, and expanding business opportunities, particularly for younger movers.

The North Port-Sarasota area ranked first at 107 movers for 10,000 LinkedIn members. This area has topped LinkedIn's Workforce Reports since May 2023, before which Austin had the highest growth. The Tampa Bay area ranked second at 55 movers per 10,000 members, while Jacksonville was fourth at just under 44. Orlando came in ninth at 25.

Other metropolitan areas that topped the list for population gain include Charlotte, Austin, Nashville, and Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill.

Florida also had two metropolitan areas on the list with the greatest population loss. Gainesville lost 64 people per 10,000 LinkedIn members, while Tallahassee lost nearly 61.

The list of population losses was topped by College Station-Bryan in Texas, which lost 116.5 people per 10,000 members, followed by Urbana-Champaign in Illinois at almost 102. College Station-Bryan had the highest number of LinkedIn users per 10,000 members since the May 2023 report. For a few months prior, Portland, Oregon, and Wenatchee, Washington were the highest.

Other big names on the list include Memphis in fifth with 23, and Boston and Chicago tied at 13.5.

Those migration patterns showcase, in part, the geographic shifts underway in America's economy. America's population is flowing toward the South, according to a December report from Bank of America, with the South's economic growth outpacing the overall economy from 2017 to 2022. Florida's GDP grew by about 20% from 2017 to 2022, for instance — nearly twice as much as the overall US. The South accounts for about a third of the country's GDP.

And job openings there sit higher than in the West, Midwest, and Northeast, with the West and Northeast particularly seeing lower openings, per BofA. That tracks where new hires are getting signed on, according to LinkedIn's data. While all states saw a decline in their year-over-year hiring, Nashville still saw the strongest hiring performance, followed by Miami-Fort Lauderdale. Hiring in Nashville picked back up in December 2023, per LinkedIn, and workers moving into Nashville came from Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City.

Meanwhile, down in Florida — one of the pivotal areas of migration — hiring increased by 3.4% in December in Miami-Fort Lauderdale, per LinkedIn. And Miami's workers, unsurprisingly, were particularly coming from the colder Northeast; the area got its most movers from New York, Boston, and Chicago.

Have you recently moved to a new state for work? Reach out to these reporters at nsheidlower@businessinsider.com and jkaplan@businessinsider.com.

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