The Reverse Great Migration and Detroit

[Dumpling]

Okay, this article is somewhat old and is from a different city. To what extent does it apply to Detroit?

It's a free country and United States citizens can move wherever they like, isn't that nice?

As noted in the white in-migration article, a net out-migration of blacks from Detroit City proper has still been occurring. Net, they have increased in Dearborn Heights rather than in Inkster. This is just a guesstimate but for every one that leaves for a Detroit suburb there is one that goes to the southern states.

http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/...s/201209300228

[Hermod]

Many of the reasons for leaving the south and moving to Detroit have either gone away or been ameliorated. Very possibly they feel that the chances of their children suffering the effects of black-on-black crime are much less in the new south.

[313WX]

These days, there are probably more Detroiters in Atlanta than there are in Detroit.

I know quite a few friends and family members who left the city to move back down south in the past 10 years.

[313WX]

Many of the reasons for leaving the south and moving to Detroit have either gone away or been ameliorated. Very possibly they feel that the chances of their children suffering the effects of black-on-black crime are much less in the new south.

Not really. Instead, the primary reasons are:

1. Dirt cheap COL for those who are receiving government assistance [[not to mention the social welfare benefits in southern states tends to be fairly generous).

2. The rate and amount of job growth in recent years has been much greater in the southern states than the northern states, especially for positions outside of specialized fields such as IT and Engineering. A college graduate has a significantly better chance finding a secure, decent-paying job right out of school in Atlanta, Charlotte or Miami than they do in Detroit.

To a far lesser extent, weather is also a factor. Besides the cold/snow, Detroit is the cloudiest city in the country outside of the Pacific Northwest, and psychologically that depressing type of weather can really be the straw that breaks the camel's back when you're struggling to pay your bills or find employment.

[Lowell]

I know a couple who have made that choice. Bottom line is that the long slow acceptance and effect of the 1960's civil rights legislation has taken hold. Rule of law is sufficient to make anyone feel reasonably assured of justice and that the law won't be sicked on them. There might be personal level discrimination and the occasional rogue lawman but that exists here too.

[Richard]

I think sometimes they do news pieces to plant the seed to try and create a movement.

I do not see this in the South at all in large numbers,I do see very large subdivisions being built for retirees and they are very "selective' on who lives there.

I do see a large city changing mass exodus of the middle class and those with means leaving or fleeing Puerto Rico.[[hint Detroit they have money and educated) 50,000 in the last couple of years.

Fla migration is mostly from South America en mass,I do see small cities located next to urban areas that 10 years ago it would have been the last place a African American would want to be caught in let alone move to completely do a 180.

Atlanta was a mini Detroit 10 years ago and now has the largest percentage amount of whites moving into the core.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Atlanta

Alabama,Arkansas,Mississippi and Louisiana still show the faded signs of segregation above the doorways to the restrooms.So maybe the large urban cores might be a possibility but probably not wise to venture outside of that.

North Carolina,when the real estate bubble was in play a majority of middle class Fla sold high and moved to the Carolina's,not cheap anymore.most of them are racist anyways.

Birmingham,not sure,most people I know in Alabama would not be caught dead in Birmingham,which is a bit confusing because the census shows a high white population.

The only thing I do see in print is the mimicking of the Rustbelt states where the white population is moving back to the core in droves,just more so in the south.

I have African American acquaintances that are well to do and they have been here a long time established,a lot are X military that have settled here. where I am at there seems to be a lot moving here from Chicago and wish they would go back because it is the element that likes to drive up the crime rates in Chicago.

Not to say it is not happening or welcome but I really do not see it.

Southern urban cities are no different then northern cities,in the 60s they slammed freeways through and broke up long established neighborhoods,white flight occurred in the south just as it did in the north.

Price wise everything is relevant in most parts,$15,00 per hour is a good wage for non skilled but the urban prices lock those out.

But it is really different City to city,Miami you can rent a shed in ones back yard for $500 per month bathroom and a/c unit extra.Very expensive to live low wages and English is a second language,a majority of Orlando is the same way expensive and if you do not speak Spanish you will not get a job that deals with the public in anyway.

Comparatively cheaper yes,but it is only a $2 per year difference between Detroit line worker and a Birmingham line worker.

So move if the opportunity to better ones self presents but not if it sounds like the grass is greener,its really not,you just get to eat grits and drink soda instead of pop,yes we also have Faygo and Venors and can find it in the glass bottles at the dollar store.

[Augustus]

Detroit is the cloudiest city in the country outside of the Pacific Northwest, and psychologically that depressing type of weather can really be the straw that breaks the camel's back when you're struggling to pay your bills or find employment.

I'm not going to dispute that psychological part or the fact that the South is less cloudy than up here, but a quick google search shows that Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Rochester, Cleveland and Columbus are all cloudier than Detroit.

[Danny]

Black flight has already begun in Detroit. Over the past 20 years Detroit has lost over 300,000 black folks. Most of them middle income. They want better neighborhoods, safer schools, better businesses and little or no violent street crime. They don't want to look at some DEAD [[C)KRAK HEAD coming around the corner, or see some poor bum loitering from a ghetto mart. They don't to get robbed or raped by a some young black male wearing a Trayvon Martin. Black folks can anywhere they want, even the Amish county. Our civil rights is fulfilled and they can get the American dream.

After all this a free county.

I'm surprised to see Detroit's black population declined from 83.2% to 79.1%. While Detroit's white population increased from 8% from 10.2%. All thanks to years of 1967 dark ages to Dan Gilbert and friends.

[old guy]

Is it a cloud situation in Detroit, or fog. The dense fog near the river was the first memory I have of living in Detroit.

[emu steve]

The northern demographic urban migration trends seem to be very consistent across many large cities:

1). There was a very pronounced migration of whites from the city to the suburbs.

2). African-Americans moved into those cities occupying those housing units formerly occupied by now suburbanites. Many came from the South for manufacturing jobs.

3). Later whites moved further out and we now have 'inner' and 'outer' suburbs. Whites moved to the outer suburbs while African-Americans moved to the inner suburbs.

4). This trend continued as many whites moved further out to the ex-burbs, which sometimes don't share too much with urban living. Living 30 or 40 miles from the city is hardly being a 'Detroiter'.

5). Dissatisfied living so far from big cities and missing what they have to offer [[e.g., sports, entertainment, CBD employment), [[some) folks are starting to move back to the cities.

6). As has been discussed in many threads here, there are certain people who might be more interested in living in a large city, e.g., childless singles and couples, maybe retirees, those who work in the downtown CBD, etc. [[Someone could rent an apt in Brush Park, coming soon, and take M-1 downtown and their commute might be say 30 minutes round trip. I spent my career dealing with 1 1/2+ hour RT commutes). Long or very long commutes in certain cities is a real negative for many workers.