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.