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 |  Subject: Almost half of Americans want to live somewhere else  Thu Jan 29, 2009 10:10 pm | |
| Living in Las Vegas appeals more to men than women. Affluent adults are twice as likely as poorer folks to want to live in Boston. Young people like big cities such as New York and Los Angeles. More Americans would rather live in a place with more McDonald's than one with more Starbucks
Those are some of the findings of a Pew Research Center survey out today on where Americans would most like to live. Whether they favor cities, suburbs or the countryside, almost half wish they lived somewhere else, the report found. City dwellers are more likely to dream of living somewhere else, and men in rural areas are far happier living there than women.
"There are some more fundamental differences between men and women," says Rich Morin, senior editor of the Pew Research Center survey. "Different cities seem to appeal to different partisan ideological groups. … People who are drawn to cities are typically younger people."
Denver, San Diego and Seattle are the top picks of the 30 largest metropolitan areas. Denver is the favorite city among Republicans, and it also rates well with Democrats and independents.
"It's a city that ranks high on most of the lists," Morin says. "It's a new city, a growing city, a younger city on what most people would perceive as the doorstep of God's country — the Rocky Mountains."
The telephone survey of 2,260 adults conducted in October uncovers new attitudes and confirms age-old trends, including gaps in age, gender and political ideology:
• In addition to Denver, favorite cities among Republicans are Phoenix, Orlando and San Antonio. Half of all liberals would like to live in San Francisco, more than double the share of conservatives. San Diego, once a bastion of conservatism, appeals to Democrats, liberals and moderates. "Good weather and the beach triumphs over ideology," Morin says.
• The West and South are more enticing regions than the Northeast and Midwest.
• 46% would prefer to live in a different type of community from the one they now reside. Adults 50 to 64 who live in cities are the least likely to say they live in the ideal place; two-thirds of those in that age group who live in the country say they couldn't imagine living anywhere else.
• Young people are the opposite: 57% of urban dwellers younger than 30 say the city is where they want to live.
'I love it here'
When Joe Higginbotham goes to town, he never runs into traffic jams. He never has to circle to find a parking spot. And he never has to worry about safety. "I can park my car in the street, get out, leave the keys in the ignition," says Higginbotham, 57, a retired instrument engineer for a large paper company. He runs errands at the bank, store and post office and makes a stop at the local saloon and "nobody bothers anything. … I love it here."
What Higginbotham calls "his little piece of heaven" is Palisade, Colo., 15 miles east of Grand Junction. Population: 2,793. Traffic light: one.
Higginbotham is among the 52% of Americans who are happy where they are, according to the Pew survey.
When Higginbotham sits on the deck of the barn-styled home he built in the middle of a pear orchard, he has no doubt he is where he wants to be.
"Happily divorced" and his kids grown, he is thrilled with the laid-back lifestyle in a small town. Yet he is 20 minutes from an airport and a mall and within 2 miles of nine wineries. He has one request: "Just don't tell the Californians."
City dwellers want out
"City residents disproportionately are more likely than people living in other types of communities to say they would prefer to live in a place other than a city," Morin says. "Fewer than half of all city residents say there is no better place to live than in a city."
A smaller proportion of women express the desire to live in the nation's largest cities. "Women are less drawn to big cities," says Robert Lang, co-director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech. "It could be safety."
Wanting to live outside cities doesn't necessarily mean people reject urban lifestyles, however. The appeal of developments with an urban flair — ones that combine housing, stores and offices in a neighborhood setting — is growing.
Brianna Fahey lives in a city the survey says an overwhelming majority of Americans would prefer not to live in: Cincinnati. Like many other large Midwestern and Northeastern cities, Cincinnati ranks near the bottom on people's lists of ideal spots.
For Fahey, 30, Cincinnati is truly home. She grew up in North College Hill, a suburb where her parents and friends still live, but bought a downtown condo after college. She gets by without a car in a city that has few mass transit options. "I like the self-sufficiency of the city," she says. "It's a good place to be in all stages of life."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/census/2009-01-29-where-we-live_N.htm |
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