[Crawford]

Of all the Sunbelt boomers, Atlanta and environs is always the biggest mystery to me. Cities in Florida, Arizona, even Texas make sense (beach, warmth, golf, etc.). Atlanta is more of a head-scratcher. Inland location, far from ideal weather, high crime, crazy commutes, etc.

The two obvious draws would be 1. Easy to get a job and 2. Relatively cheap new homes in exurbs, except Atlanta does not appear to have lower unemployment rates or cheaper homes than from many of the regions from which it draws.

The strangest part of the Atlanta allure (and this extends to Charlotte) is the black mythology of these places as promised lands. Suddenly the North Carolina of Jesse Helms and the Georgia of Sonny Perdue are supposed meccas for progressive blacks (and Sonny's the governor RIGHT NOW and won basically for his support of the confederate flag).

I once heard a black secretary at my dad's office in suburban Detroit say she was moving from a nice middle-class Detroit suburb to the southern suburbs of Atlanta for the safety, schools and lack of congestion. There is absolutely no data to support the notion that suburban Atlanta would be a solid choice over suburban Detroit for safety, schools or congestion. If anything, there should be a flood in the opposite direction, from emerging ghettohoods in South DeKalb and South Fulton counties (Atlanta) to the Northeast and Midwest.

It's amazing how good PR can influence relocation decisions more than hard statistics.