My Grandparents (on my Mom’s side of our family) lived most of their lives in Racine, Wisconsin. My Mom was born Racine, married my Dad there, and I was born there with my 3 brothers.

Racine is a great little city on Lake Michigan, but unfortunately, like a lot of blue-collar Midwestern cities, it has struggled as a small city since the 1960s. It has steadily lost population every consecutive decade for the last 60 years.

At that same time, many other American cities – especially in the West & South – were quickly growing. Rather than see businesses close, jobs being lost, and local schools & governments struggle to make ends meet – cities in these areas expanded and built new ‘greenfield’ amenities.

You can see the shift in this chart …

Frankly, the population loss has been a quality of life issue for many places in the Northeast and Midwest. Every time we visited my Grandparents in Racine over those years, I remember them describing how much worse it had become.

We’re starting to see the contrast between decline & growth first hand – between our home in MN and our vacation place in FL. MN had been a growing state over the first 25-30 years we lived here, starting in the early 1980s.

That growth seems to be stalling out now. The state is beginning to lose population to other states (including neighboring WI) and the local news is increasingly rife with corporate layoffs (Target HQ this week), state budget shortfalls, declining schools, and out-of-date infrastructure.

At the same time, FL feels filled with optimism for the future as over 5K people have moved there every WEEK, on average, over the last 10 years – 2.7 million in all.

Blockbuster new developments, attractions, shopping, and even entirely new cities are announced regularly. The rising tide from this growth is lifting all boats and feels great.

I guess it’s hard to say what population trends will do over the next 10 or 20 years, but I’m thinking it’s going to continue to feel more positive in Florida. No income tax, strong schools, and a terrific economy are pretty good draws.

We’re not ready to move there full time yet, but I can feel it pulling us that direction, in time. When you are retired, you can live about anywhere and why not live in a place that is growing and optimistic?

How do the state growth trends feel like where you live? Where would you like to spend your retirement?

Image: Pixabay