Dynamic map shows where Americans are moving

People are leaving cities like Detroit in droves, but where are they going? What other cities are seeing population decline? What are the migration patterns for the rest of the U.S.? This interactive map from Forbes gives us good idea. Using data from 2008, you can hover your cursor over any county in the U.S. and see if people are moving in or out.

Take a look at Detroit:

We can tell from the mostly red lines that people are moving out of the city. If you hover over Seattle (King County) you can see that 44 people moved from Seattle to Detroit, but 163 people moved from Detroit to Seattle. And the disparity in income levels is staggering. People moving from Seattle to Detroit had an average income per capital of $24,500, while those moving from Detroit to Seattle averaged over $55,000.

Now take a look at Seattle. It's a completely different story.

The mostly black lines show a stead migration into the city from throughout the country. It's a dramatic and thorough look at the migration patterns of Americans. And Kaid Benfield from NRDC said it best:

I suspect that the map may prove useful for finding trends with implications for land use, planning, and economic development.  But right now I mostly find it fascinating and fun.

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com