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Good info. That's exactly the problem. The "best place to live" is really "the best place to live if you're retired." It reads as affordable because they have an average household income significantly higher than the rest of America (because everyone is old and married as I pointed out).
I think that's the other part of the 'best place to live' index is bullshit. Best for whom? It is impossible given the diversity of the US to create a single index. If you're 20 do you want to be surrounded by 80 year olds? If you're 45 with teenagers do you want to be living next to a frat house?
Not long after we got married and we started looking for a house to buy, my wife's parents offered to give us their house in Florida (my wife was in public accounting so she could go basically anywhere and I wasn't particularly tied to my job yet as I had only been in it for a few years). I was all for it but there was no way I could convince my wife as she couldn't stand to be around that many old people and she isn't a big fan of the summer heat and humidity down there.
Then a couple years later we were down there visiting when our oldest was about 1 and we were driving from the in-laws in the Naples area to go visit my grandmother in Sarasota. We realized we forgot some diapers or a bottle or something for our daughter so we stopped at a Walmart just of off 75 when we got into the Sarasota area and my wife went in while I walked around outside with the baby. When my wife came out of the store, her first comment was something along the lines of how the crowd in Sarasota makes the crowd in Naples look downright young! 😅
Responding to the last sentence - they drive in from the poorer areas like Ft Myers, Cape Coral, Estero, etc.
That’s pretty cool data, is that app proprietary to Michigan Planners?
Oh yeah, I get exactly where they're driving from. I guess my astonishment is more along the lines of why would they drive that far and deal with the horrible traffic on 41. Maybe I've gotten spoiled over the years with my 6 mile commute against traffic (and now I only do that commute a couple days a week). Six miles may sound horrible for folks in a lot of places but it's downright walkable by Midwest standards!
As for the app: That's the Census "OnTheMap" web app that uses data from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Origin-Destination Employment Statistics program. They use data from local employers to and match that up with the location of work and location of home so you can see destination, distance, and direction; inflow/outflow patterns; local employment by industry; employment by some key demographic indicators; Job-to-Job transitions; etc. There is a big lag in the data (and some states aren't currently participating) but it's still really powerful data and a lot of it is available through the FTP down to the Census block level which is really nice, especially if you have access to your own GIS software.
The data and web app are free to anybody.