In my book (get your free copy here) I talk about how I moved to the Southeast (and specifically North Carolina) because of the demographic shift that was occurring. Namely we moved from the Washington D.C. Metro to Asheville, NC. My rationale was that I wanted to live somewhere where there was a “rising tide” of demographics; people moving to an area. Being in medical device sales at the time, it’s always easier to be more successful when you have more clients or customers (in this case, patients) than not. We follow the same thought process when identifying target markets for future real estate acquisitions. Demographics, population growth and job growth, are the life blood of the multifamily market. It’s ECON 101; supply and demand. If there is an increasing demand, prices go up.

After leaving grad school, my wife and I chose to move to the D.C. area for the career opportunities. No sooner did we move there, than I started laying out a list of cities for our next move. One that would help to propel our careers, businesses and families to the “next level!” I would encourage anyone that is young or early in their career to think through the same process. Here is the system and 5 criteria I used to identify the best place to establish a career and start a family:

Where are people moving?

One of my favorite annual reports is the United Van Lines Annual Movers Study.

This study will tell you where people are moving from and where they are moving to. If you are looking at career options, I would highly suggest you choose one of the states and cities that is experiencing significant growth.

In 2019, the top states for growth were:

1. Idaho

2. Oregon

3. Arizona

4. South Carolina

5. Washington

6. D.C.

7. Florida

8. South Dakota

9. North Carolina

10. New Mexico

2020 was an interesting year that accelerated the trends of people moving to less-crowded, lower tax states with a higher quality of life:

1. Idaho

2. South Carolina

3. Oregon

4. South Dakota

5. Arizona

6. North Carolina

7. Tennessee

8. Alabama

9. Florida

10. Arkansas

The Southeast and Sunbelt continue to be powerhouses in growth while states like New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Connecticut, and California that have high taxes, high cost of living, and poor weather (aside from California) continue to lose population.

What states have the best Fiscal Health?

Moving to a state that has a high “Fiscal Health” rating will mean lower taxes and better infrastructure. These states are also typically more business friendly. All of these traits are net positives when you plan to establish a business, career, and family. I would encourage you to take a long-term view on these items (here is a helpful ranking of best states by fiscal stability from US News). The “switching cost” of moving your business or family is high if you get this step wrong.

What cities offered the best quality of life?

You should love where you live! Take a look at the following lists from Best Cities, moveBuddha and Thrillist (and search the Internet for more) and pick cities that offer those traits that are most important to you. I prefer a smaller city because I spent so much of my life in traffic in the first 5 years of my career. When you sit in 3 hours of traffic on a Wednesday afternoon it quickly influences you!

A great hack for this step is to ask yourself, “Where would I like to vacation?”

Why not live where you love to vacation?!

Cost of living?

At Next-Level Income we teach you how to make more money, keep more money, and grow more money. However if you live somewhere that is very expensive to live (like San Fransisco or New York City) it’s going to be that much harder to KEEP more money and ultimately invest that money to GROW more money. Your options for activities, dining, etc. will be limited if you are spending all your money on housing, taxes, etc.

I would encourage you to cross-reference your Quality of Life list with the Cost of Living list utilizing this tool.

Which cities are least likely to experience natural disasters or terrorist attacks?

This is kind of subjective. Keep in mind that I watched 9/11 on TV and had friends that lost loved ones in NYC and in D.C. I wanted to move to an area that I felt my family would be insulated from terrorism, but also natural disasters like hurricanes, tornados, wildfires, and climate change. I also took into consideration water supply (which I think will be important in the future) and local food supply (can you get produce, meat, etc. within 100 miles?). You’ll need to balance your choice with these factors. This list from the NY Times ranks a lot of Northwest cities low in risk, but if there was a major volcanic event in Washington state or in Yellowstone, for instance, that would change the risk profile of those areas, in my opinion. Consider climate change as well. How will this effect the cities that you are considering?

Looking at the above criteria, you shouldn’t be surprised that we chose to live in Asheville, NC. I identified North Carolina as a solid state to live in and my wife and I value the quality of life that a mountain town has to offer. Asheville is one of few small towns with mountains that would check all the boxes above. If you like warmer weather and beaches, perhaps Naples, Florida or Savanah, GA would be worth considering? I also appreciate the fact that we have our own water supply and fantastic food options, including both restaurants and locally grown produce and free-range meats. Some consider Asheville expensive, but if you compare it to D.C. or other cities that have everything that Asheville has to offer, I think it’s fairly reasonable. It also afforded both my wife and I options to grow our businesses with a robust medical community and growing real estate market.

Even if you aren’t actively involved in real estate, an added benefit to moving to a place where there is net in-migration is that you can participate in an improving real estate market. If you buy property in one of these areas, you are going to have a better opportunity to take advantage of this. There are multiple ways that you can participate; buy a fixer-upper and flip it after 2 years for a tax free profit, buy a commercial property, or just buy a house in an up-and-coming neighborhood (like we did) and then repeat the process either within your city or in another city if you choose to move. I even have a blueprint I’ve created to predict not only which cities are going experience outsized growth, but which areas of the city are going to boom over the next 10 years.

Looking at the above formula, you too can decide what areas of the country are going to boom over the next 10-20 years, just like I did more than 15 years ago. Then you can start to make a plan so you can experience “Geographic Arbitrage”; moving to an area that makes it easier to be successful in your career, financially, and enjoy the best quality of life for you and your family!

To learn more about how we use the same strategy for our investments, get your free copy of my book.