The Mediaite Census: Where The Aughts Took You, And Why

This little yellow line, moving southwest to terminate in a small bulb, is 92.85 kilometers long, or about 57.69 miles. It’s less than the distance between New York City and Philadelphia; slightly more than from San Francisco to San Jose. 57.69 miles won’t even get you from Austin to San Antonio.

That line, after hundreds of additions to our Mediaite Census map tracking people’s moves between 2000 and 2010, also represents the net movement of our contributors. Moves of 17,000 kilometers from Great Britain to Australia and moves of less than two within a single city all combined to show the decade’s total movement: less than an hour’s drive southwest – albeit in a boat on the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere off the Delaware coast. (Want to know how this was generated?)

Compare this with the average length of the moves contributed – 2,483 kilometers / 1,543 miles – and the mean distance – 1,472 km / 914 miles. In fact, 82% of all contributors moved further than the 92.85 km that the group, in its entirety, traveled. This migratory pattern, incidentally, tracks well with the movement of the mean population center for the United States – though our map’s net movement appears far more to the east, given that it isn’t restricted to this country.

The previously mentioned move from London to Sydney, by the way, was the experiment’s longest, a move encompassing 43% of the total circumference of the Earth. The second longest was also a move involving Australia, this time away – from Sydney to Virginia. Rounding out the top five were moves to Vietnam, New Zealand, and from Iraq to Wyoming. (Just because it’s worth mentioning, the sixth longest move, of 10,338 kilometers, was from Tehran to Milwaukee. Schlemiel, schlemazel.)

There’s a multiple-way tie for the shortest move: those who stayed put contributed to the map, too. There were twelve moves of ten kilometers or less, and another four that were of a shorter length than a marathon. What Paula Radcliffe was running on foot dozens of times each year (and often finishing first), some people didn’t cover in the decade.

Our number-crunching doesn’t end there, of course. The most popular country to move to? The United States.* Country moved away from the most? Great Britain. The overwhelmingly most popular state to move to was New York; specifically, New York City.* (NYC accounted for nearly a quarter of all moves in and out – one person’s reason for moving to the Big Apple: “Because I was always meant to be here.”) The most popular state to move away from was Colorado, followed closely by Maryland.

Most enjoyable about this experiment, though, was reading the descriptions people gave for their moves. Many were terse, a simple “Got married” or “Work”. Some more personal: “I retired after 30 years!,” “Moved for school and stayed there,” “Get away from the ex, and warmer climate“. Even those who didn’t leave their original cities shared their thoughts as well. “Why move, stay put!” “New house, same city, new job, new spouse.”

But at the end of the day, these were our favorite reasons given.

Company asked me to go run a 2wk job, lasted a year, in that time I fell in love, married and here I am.

On a move from Canon City, CO, to Sandy, UT.

Discrimination of French Quebecer People, including Business community

Not a problem I’ve experienced. On a move from Quebec (duh) to Ottawa.

From LA to New York to SF to Austin in pursuit of better parties/women/work/food, in that order.

Good luck, dude. On a move from Los Angeles to Austin.

In opposition of capitalism.

Again, good luck, dude. On a move from Boston (the Havana of New England) to Havana (Cuba).

First runner-up:

The terrorist attacks of 9-11 changed everything. I stopped working in Mexico in 2001, went to Canada and then here to California. I’ve moved several times since in San Francisco. I also can not imagine how I did what I di ten years ago, living in a different country. I am glad I did it when I was young.

On a move from Mexico City to San Francisco.

And the grand prize winner**:

Dickwad ex-husband wanted to move near his parents. Now I live next door to his parents and he lives nearby, but in another state.

Um, ouch. On a move from West Warwick, RI, to Hopkinsville, KY.

There are many more stories told in the map below; some explicitly, some not. Explore.

And thanks, of course, to all who contributed. We’ll see you in another decade. Until then, get moving.

* Yes, we know this is probably just a reflection of our readership.

** There is no grand prize. Bragging rights, at best.

How we got the yellow line: To generate it, the average latitudinal and longitudinal positions of points of origin and destination were computed. The yellow line on the map describes the movement between these two average points. Return to the article.