Why Have the Southern States Been Gaining Population in the Last Two Decades?

Southern Migration

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Institution

Why have the Southern states been gaining population in the last two decades?

Urbanization and city growth in the past two decades has been a considerable influence to the increased number of immigrants and communities in the Southern states. In the past decades, people migrated from the Southern states to the Northern states that were considered urban leaving the South with few communities. However, the accretions of the economic and political strength of the Southern states have brought back the communities that were once dwindling in the Southern states. The Southern states have the advantage of possessing thriving businesses that promise better payments and living conditions to its citizens. Texas, for example, depends on energy-based economy that gives it as an advantage compared to other states. Additionally, the oil economy of the world is an advantage to the increased growth. North Dakota, on the other hand, is considered the fast-growing state, relies on oil and gas industries. Both of which provide a good number of working conditions for employees and economic profits for the citizens. The Southern states have also recorded a high number of immigrants especially the Hispanics who have replaced the black-white racial dynamics associated with the Southern states in the previous years. Hispanics accounting for a large number of the American population are moving to the Southern states as per the United States Census Bureau (2011). The economic and social conditions in the Southern states are attributed to being the reason leading to increased number of graduates who are in pursuit of better job opportunities and living status. Additionally, the return migrants who had earlier migrated to the Northern states for better education in the past centuries return to the Southern states to take care of aging family members that they once left behind.