Why is it that people are overcrowding certain cities and not moving to others?

Question

example1: Atlanta is getting pretty popular and people are all living there. But no one's moving to Birmingham, AL or Mobile, AL.
example2: Washington, DC has people crowding the VA suburbs, but no one is moving to Baltimore(Baltimore actually dropped in population)
example3: Some people are just copying me and moving to the Tampa bay area and soon it's gonna be overcrowded like Atlanta and DC. But hey aren't moving the Magic city(miami) or the Ville(Jacksonville).
example4: People are moving to Phoenix or Scottsdale but not to Santa Fe, Salt Lake city, or Pueblo. They insist on being in AZ.

Answer 1

People are attracted to cities by well-paid jobs or nice lifestyle or nice attitudes of the people and want to minimize their travelling time to work.

They move away for the opposite reasons - no jobs, poorly paid jobs or poor lifestyle (crime, poor climate, no entertainment, etc)

Answer 2

There are a few possible reasons leading to this.
Firstly, it could be the avaliablilty of job. People must have a job to earn their living, and most of the well paid jobswith benifits are offered in these major cities such as Washington DC;
Secondly, it could be an agglomeration effect. People tend to be living in places with more people surrounding, they can enjoy more benifits such as well developed/improved transportation network, more shops avaliable, more community and social welfare are being protected etc. It is inevitable that the government would distribute more resources to cities with more people where more people and media concern what's going on there;
Thirdly, it could be due to the family ties. That their family had been living there for years, they don't want to leave the place as it is their homeland;
Last but not least, it could be something about government policy. Consider if the government provide good infrastructure there, police station, fire station, hospital etc. No people would like to move into places with only bare ground. Under government influences, I think more people would love to move into less congested cities.

This is not only happening in the US, but also in the PRC. People tend to be living and working in big cities such as Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Macau, only factories and other production plants move into less crowded cities where they can enjoy lower land rent, wages requirement and less tense environmental protection restriction.

Answer 3

The same reason why people want to live in San Francisco and not Barstow. There is something in san francisco that is attracting people, be it for jobs, culture, etc. Sure there are places that are far less crowded and far more cheaper, but these places are hotspots that people want to be a part of.

Answer 4

You are so right. Now take a look at what happened in New York and New Jersey, I have not seen any more news regarding of the outcome, but I ask you, would you have moved out also?

Answer 5

well, the people living in these cities have already made friends and their children too, plus they know the way around the town and like where they live

Answer 6

- This maye be due to the availability of JOB.
-The second reason would be the developed infrastructure and ease of life. In certain parts for your daily need you need to travel alot while in cities you need not to travel much for yoour daily need.

Answer 7

just like any other fad representing the hoi polloi, whether it is for money or whatever interest applied to people...others may conclud this question as a business question...

Answer 8

Same here, everyone is flocking to Alberta.

They are looking for employment.

Answer 9

It's got to be explained by Astrology.

Answer 10

JOBS, MONEY, UNABLE TO MOVE NO RESOURCES Your not a ROCKET SCIENTIST ARE YOU ???