Michigan migration

continued

or red if they take more than they send. Jon Bruner, who created the map for forbes.com, says Washtenaw County displays healthy inbound migration from other counties around the state, as well as New York and Chicago. Outbound migrants head to many major metropolitan areas, including Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, and Dallas. "There are plenty of other places in the country where the rate of migratory exchange is just very low, and you don't see this massive pipeline to the tech industry in California and finance in New York," Bruner says.

Because the map is based on federal tax return data, it undercounts incoming U-M students and departing graduates. But according to Bruner, the U-M drives work-based migration as well: "You could relocate from Seattle to work at a University of Michigan center on computing research, but you could also relocate from Pontiac to a decent wage and a back office at the University of Michigan medical center."   

[Originally published in December, 2012.]