Commentary
Is It The Beach, The Attitude, The Altitude Or The Age
- by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 1, 2007
Is It The Beach, The Attitude, The Altitude Or The Age
According to a new Harris Poll, California remains number one state in which people wish to live this year, followed by Florida, which moved up from number three and Hawaii, which has dropped from number two. Florida has been in the top three ever since this question was first asked in 1997.
When it comes to which city people would live in, New York City comes in as number one for the ninth time (out of the last 10), San Diego, CA moves up one spot to second and Seattle, WA also moves up one place to be the third most popular city.
The next most popular states in which people would like to live are:
- 4 North Carolina
- 5 Colorado
- 6 Texas
- 7 New York
- 8 Arizona
- 9 Oregon
- 10 Washington
- 10 Tennessee
- 10 Virginia
Age plays a small role in the state people would choose to live in:
- The top choice for Baby Boomers (those aged 43-61) would be Hawaii
- California is tops for the other generations
- For Echo Boomers (those aged 18-30), Texas moves up to their number 2 choice
- Generation Xers (those aged 31-42) prefer Pennsylvania 5th
- Matures (those 62 and older) would go to Oregan as the 5th choice
- After NYC, San Diego and Seattle, the trend is to go West for favorite cities, except for Orlando:
- 4 San Francisco, CA
- 5 Las Vegas, NV
- 6 Orlando, FL
- 7 Honolulu, HI
- 8 Phoenix, AZ
- 9 Denver, CO
- 10 Los Angeles, CA
State Preference Other Than Current One (Base: All U.S. Adults) | ||||||||||
| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
California | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Florida | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
Hawaii | 7 | =7 | =9 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
North Carolina | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 8 | =8 | 4 | 4 |
Colorado | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 5 |
Texas | 10 | =7 | 5 | =10 | 12 | 14 | 7 | =8 | 5 | 6 |
New York | * | =15 | * | =10 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 7 |
Arizona | 2 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 8 |
Oregon | 9 | 9 | 15 | 14 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 9 |
Washington | 8 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 6 | =10 |
Tennessee | 5 | 6 | 13 | 15 | 10 | 7 | * | 10 | 11 | =10 |
Virginia | 14 | 11 | =9 | =8 | =14 | =12 | 9 | 12 | 12 | =10 |
Georgia | 11 | 14 | 12 | =8 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 13 |
Pennsylvania | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | 14 | 14 |
Alaska | 15 | 15 | =9 | 13 | =14 | =12 | 15 | 14 | * | 15 |
Source: Harris Poll, September 2007 (= Tied for that position * Not in top 15) | ||||||||||
Top Five State Preferences By Age and Gender (Base: All U.S. adults) | ||||||
Rank | Generation | Gender | ||||
| Echo Boomers (18 to 30) | Gen X (31 to 42) | Baby Boomers (43 to 61) | Matures (62+) | Men | Women |
1 | California | California | Hawaii | California | California | Hawaii |
2 | Texas | Hawaii | Florida | Florida | Florida | California |
3 | New York | Florida | California | Hawaii | Hawaii | Florida |
4 | Florida | North Carolina | North Carolina | North Carolina | North Carolina | North Carolina |
5 | Hawaii | Pennsylvania | Colorado | Oregon | Texas | New York |
Source: Harris Poll, September 2007 | ||||||
Preferred Cities (Base: All U.S. Adults) | |||
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
New York, NY | 1 | 1 | 1 |
San Diego, CA | 2 | 3 | 2 |
Seattle, WA | 5 | 4 | 3 |
San Francisco, CA | 4 | 2 | 4 |
Las Vegas, NV | 3 | 5 | 5 |
Orlando, FL | * | 14 | 6 |
Honolulu, HI | 8 | 6 | 7 |
Phoenix, AZ | 13 | =12 | 8 |
Denver, CO | 7 | =7 | =9 |
Los Angeles, CA | 12 | 11 | =9 |
Chicago, IL | 6 | 9 | 11 |
Boston, MA | 11 | 10 | 12 |
Charlotte, NC | * | * | 13 |
Portland, OR | 10 | =12 | 14 |
Miami, FL | * | * | 15 |
Source: Harris Poll, September 2007 (= Tied for that position * Not in top 15) | |||
For more details, please visit HarrisInteractive here.
Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.