Americans Fleeing Cities for Countryside as Violent Crime Soars, Unemployment Here to Stay

Why would anyone stay in the city, where everything is expensive and increasingly dangerous, if there are no more jobs?

Many Americans have already found the answer to that question.

The Hill:

A combination of the coronavirus pandemic, economic uncertainty, and social unrest is prompting waves of Americans to move from large cities and permanently relocate to more sparsely populated areas. The trend has been accelerated by technology and shifting attitudes that make it easier than ever to work remotely. Residents of all ages and incomes are moving in record numbers to suburban areas and small towns.

An estimated quarter of a million New York residents will move upstate for good, while another 2 million could permanently move out of the state. More than 16,000 New York residents have already relocated to suburban Connecticut. The preliminary figures show New York is also losing citizens to rural New England and Florida in significant numbers. Similar trends are happening in other large urban areas. There is a political element within the domestic migration at play across the nation, but what is more telling is the level of movement to suburban areas and rural towns.

Over 40 percent of urbanites have browsed online for real estate, more than twice the level of people who live in the country. Redfin reports that more than a quarter of searches on its website are by urbanites in Seattle, San Francisco, and the District of Columbia searching for homes across less populated places. While real estate sales are down in San Francisco, where prices are falling by more than 50 percent, demand in its suburbs has been soaring, where prices are rising by almost 10 percent.

There has been a sharp uptick in interest in moving out to Montana, with the majority of new inquiries coming from California. Real estate sales in Montana are 10 percent higher than at this time last year. Rural Colorado, Oregon, and Maine have seen similar upticks in property sales. Vermont is going through a renaissance in real estate, with an agent there remarking that “people are buying houses without even seeing them.”

Some of the biggest changes are less obvious, yet even the hidden trends support the idea that cities are emptying out. In March and April, over 2 million young people moved back in with their parents or grandparents. If the allure of cities declines further due to the risk of disease, a sputtering economy, and a future of telework, the flight to suburban and rural safety will continue well after a coronavirus vaccine hits the market.

Social unrest and urban crime rate spikes also raise the possibility of a sharp increase of exits from large cities. A breakdown in order, especially if police are defunded, could further downsize cities rebuilt with law and order approaches. Urban trends of the last 50 years are being reversed. Instead of smaller towns and rural areas facing the steep declines, large metropolitan areas may soon be the places bleeding citizens.

The moves and the circumstances that precipitated them will likely cause profound changes in the places receiving the most coronavirus refugees. It is still too early to forecast the political impacts of these demographic trends, but they could be significant. Floods of former urbanites could bring more taxes, restrictions, and regulations to these areas.

The political impact will be further polarization.

For decades, we have had the university system to indoctrinate our generational refuse and send them off to the coastal cities to go take recreational drugs, work in offices, and engage in degenerate sex acts.

Now, the remaining normal people in those areas want to get out, and they will bring their wealth and education with them to red states.

In part, this is because there are no longer enough non-remote jobs to go around, so there is no reason to stay. In another part, this probably has to do with the monumental spike in violent crime that has followed this anti-police movement.

Townhall:

In only six weeks, city after city operated by entrenched Democrats have seen a massive expansion in lawlessness, violence, and murder. Stunningly, many news outlets seem gobsmacked and mystified at how or why such an explosion of lawlessness has occurred.

For the sake of brevity, let’s sample six of the nation’s largest cities, including all of the top three.

New York:

The Democratic mayor has long been understood as anti-police. His wife recently imagined the city as “Nirvana” if the NYPD were eliminated altogether.

Thus far in 2020, homicides are up 21 percent. Shootings are up by 46 percent. The Democratic mayor’s agenda included emptying the prison known as Rikers Island, bail reform letting perps walk before the paperwork is completed, and the effort to #DefundPolice that took 600 anti-crime units out of commission.

Los Angeles:

June saw disturbing trends. An increase in the month’s first week by 250 percent of homicides, and a 56 percent increase in shootings. Following the death of George Floyd in May the LAPD received a $150 million cut.

Chicago:

Year-to-date shootings have eclipsed 1,508 for 2020, putting them 350 ahead of 2019. To date homicides sit at 254, placing them ahead of 2019. Important to note that the Cook County board voted in favor of defunding police. Eleven city alderman raced to the fore to demand that not a single penny of $333 million in federal dollars not go to police, and various proposals are being considered to cut current funding by more than $30 million in current spending.

Washington, D.C.

Year-to-date homicide numbers are 13 percent higher than this time a year ago. Nevertheless, the District PD is slated to be defunded by more than $15 million.

Philadelphia:

Shootings are up 67 percent. Victims of armed violence are up 29 percent. Homicides are up 25 percent. So of course it makes sense to defund the Philadelphia PD by $19 million.

Baltimore:

As consistently one of the most dangerous cities in America with a five-year streak of more than 300 murders, last year Baltimore set a new record at 348 homicides. Yet in 2020 they outpace last year’s record and will see defunding to the effect of $22 million.

It is when someone thinks that no one is watching them, that you see who they truly are.

Likewise, it is when the Blacks think that the police are not watching them, that their true nature is revealed.

So, the question is – which part of this are you sticking around for?

The part where you have no job and everything is expensive, or the part where they defund the police, and they go full Africa on you and your family?