Richard Florida on “The Geography of Stuck”

I write pretty often about mobility in America, including this very recent post about migration into and out of Savannah and Chatham County.

Richard Florida has a pithy and interesting post today at The Atlantic Cities: The Geography of Stuck.

He writes in part:

America can be divided into two distinct classes, the stuck and the mobile. The mobile possess the resources and the inclination to seek out and move to locations where they pursue economic opportunity. Too many Americans are stuck in places with limited resources and opportunities. This geography of the stuck and mobile is a key axis of cleavage in the United States.

Florida notes that fewer Americans moved last year than in any year on record.

Can communities be too mobile? I’d say that some localities — like the state of Nevada — have been built too much on in-migration. The impermanency of the social fabric and the lack of a common geographical memory could certainly have exacerbated the housing boom and subsequent bust.

Here’s the map that accompanies Florida’s post, clearly showing which states are attracting the fewest number of Americans from elsewhere: