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Comment by notatoad | Hacker News Reader

lots of people will tell a pollster they want to move, the number of people who actually do it is the interesting number.

in January 2019, 26% of americans said they were considering moving to Canada [1]. That obviously hasn't happened.

[1] https://globalnews.ca/news/4822460/americans-move-to-canada-...

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Well just look at the wording - "considering". Probably 99.9% of the things I've considered I've never done.

It's a poorly worded survey question. It would have been more helpful to ask "are you planning on leaving your state in the next 12 months?".

Moving to a different state or out of a city into the suburbs isn't as drastic as moving to an entirely different country. Nor is it nearly as difficult.

People even tell their friends and, I think, legitimately mean it - for the last 10 years nearly everyone I know in Portland (Ore.) has said they want to move to a smaller city... so far I am the only who has left. And cities keep growing while rural areas keep shrinking.

Actually the largest cities are shrinking, and have been for the last couple year. It will be no doubt be exacerbated by recent events.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/americas-t...

Fair point - my always-angry neighbor routinely talks about how he's leaving the post-apocalyptic hellscape our city has become, but after 10 years of hearing the same song, he's still here. Still angry, but still here.

Does he have a wife?

I want to move but my wife won't let me.

No, not sure if he did at one point though. I'm empathetic to the fact that he's probably angry for reasons I don't know, but it still makes me laugh when he goes on his rants.

I'm probably a younger version of him. I'm miserable because I've lost faith and hope in our systems (corporate, legal, marriage, etc).

Marriage is still a decent system. My wife and I are doing the best we can to keep each other sane through all this.

I mean my personal experience.

Others may have different opinions of these systems based on their experiences.

> in January 2019, 26% of americans said they were considering moving to Canada [1]. That obviously hasn't happened.

I'm an example of a Canadian moving to America, FWIW.

I think there is a big difference between stated and revealed preferences.

I know numerous people in my home town who are considering moving and have been considering it for decades. I "consider" it every time I see an interesting job posting on LinkedIn.

The bar for consider is very low.

I think it's still a noteworthy development if the number of people who talk about moving is suddenly going up.

It’s a shame HN doesn’t allow enough space to include the “Have Moved or” from the actual article title.

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