In a recent speech at the IndyInsite annual meeting, Aaron Renn author of the popular urban policy blog, The Urbanophile, and a leading thinker on the traits that make metropolitan areas thrive gave a speech comparing the Indianapolis metro to other major urban regions in the Midwest (populations of 1 million or more). One factor in the comparison was migration and this is what he had to say:
But more telling than population growth is a statistic called net migration. This is just what it sounds like. It’s the number of people who moved in minus the number of people who moved out. If you think about it, this is really the ultimate verdict on a city. It’s people voting with their feet about where they want to live. So let’s take a look. Indianapolis is number one again. I’m beginning to notice at trend already. A net of almost 65,000 people moved to Indianapolis in the first eight years of the last decade. That’s the equivalent of the entire population of Fishers packing up from where ever they are and moving to Indy. It’s more than twice as many as the next nearest city on the list. And as you can see, the Midwest is a place most people want to move away from, but not here, not this city. Indianapolis is a place where people want to be, to plant their flag, seek their fortune, and build a better future for themselves and their families.
