New Jersey Leads the Nation in Outbound Migration – Should You Stay or Should You Go? [POLL]

As I wrote this piece, I was listening to the rosy picture Governor Christie was painting as to how New Jersey is becoming a more attractive place to do business and raise a family…and how much things have changed since 2011.

However that’s very much against the finding of the leading moving company in the country, who’s migration study reveals what most of us already knew.

That is, the northeast is the section of the country most are leaving behind, and New Jersey is leading all states in the country for outbound migration.

Yes, still…despite all the good news.

According to this:

The Northeast region leads the United States in outbound migration, according to the results of United Van Lines' 36th annual "migration" study, which tracks which states the company's customers move to and from during the course of the year.

"As the nation's largest household goods mover, United's data is an accurate reflection of the overall U.S. moving trends," explained Carl Walter, vice president of United Van Lines. "Tracking the number of inbound and outbound domestic moves helps provide insight into overall migration trends."

United has tracked migration patterns annually on a state-by-state basis since 1977.

Moving In The top-five inbound states of 2012 were:
District of Columbia
Oregon
Nevada
North Carolina
South Carolina

The Carolinas each made the top five with North Carolina at 56 percent and South Carolina at 55 percent inbound moves.

Moving Out The top-five outbound states for 2012 were:
1. New Jersey
2. Illinois
3. West Virginia
4. New York
5. New Mexico

New Jersey (62 percent) displaced the outbound leader from last year, Illinois (60 percent) reclaiming the top spot for high-outbound migration that it held in 2010.

This in the midst of what could very well be something of a renaissance here.
Because if you were listening to the Governor’s remarks today in his State of the State address:

"Maybe the folks in Washington, in both parties, could learn something from our record here. Our citizens certainly have — now 61 percent of them believe our state is moving in the right direction —more than double the amount that believed it on that cold day in January three years ago."

Looks to me as though the message may not have gotten through…62 percent of the outbound moves made by United Van Lines were from New Jersey.

So apparently there are a few nonbelievers…actually, more than a few.

That’s ok with me…I’ll buy the hype and stay.
And apparently there were a fair number who said once they left, they couldn't stand where they'd gone, and actually came back.

So what's your verdict?

Do you feel you should stay or should you leave New Jersey?