Tomorrow, June 20, is the Summer Solstice. We're 20 days into summer of 2019.
Where is the best weather right now in the USA? Well, if you look at the dew point temperatures, you can get an idea of whether the air feels dry or feels oppressive.
These are accepted:
55 °F or less: dry and comfortable
56 °F to 60 °F: OK
61 °F to 65 °F: sticky
66 °F or more: oppressive
Of course, if you are a mile or so from the Atlantic, the Gulf, or the Great Lakes, maybe it is not so bad in the otherwise sticky and oppressive eastern parts of the USA.
Many might be surprised that Southern California isn't all that nice in summer relative to states in the northern latitudes in the West.
Relocating to the Sticky and Harsh and Elsewhere
In spite of sticky and harsh summer weather in the Southeast, US residents continue to relocate to the states of this region. Many retirees from the Northeast and North Central have been moving to The Villages, Florida, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to escape winter.
Other retirees are choosing western metros such as St. George, Utah and Bend, Oregon.
Oil drilling is fueling the growth of metros like Williston, North Dakota, Dickinson, North Dakota, and Midland, Texas.
Growing Internet-age economies in Austin, Raleigh, the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, Seattle, Greeley and Fort Collins, Colorado, are luring Millennials.
The Growth / Shrink index shows the growth of a metro relative to the average growth for metros that are growing or the average shrinkage for metros shrinking relative to average shrinkage for metros that are shrinking.
The Growth / Shrink gives you a comparative measure. Take the growth champ, Williston, North Dakota. Williston has grown over nine times faster than the US average for growing metros. The shrinking loser is Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, a metro that has shrunk over five times faster than US average for shrinking metros.
Below you can see metros broken out by size: Super, Big, Mid, Small, and Tiny.
Are You Looking to Relocate?
If you are looking to relocate to one of the growing metros, be sure to check out the 2019 TRUE DOLLAR JOURNAL CITIES, USA GUIDE on the True Dollar Journal. Unlike any other city relocation guide on the Internet, the TDJ Cities, USA guide ranks cities based on how much buying power you would have relative to pre-tax income after lawgivers put their hands on your income and you account for the cost of living in a city.
As the dew point temperature gives you an indication of how dry or how humid the air will feel to you, so too, the TDJ Cities, USA guide gives you a measure of how well-off or how poor you will feel based on a ratio of net income to average gross income after adjusting for the cost of living in any city.
Super Metros
A super metro has a population of over one million.
US residents looking to get better work at better pay in the 21st century move to the super metros. Austin, Orlando, Raleigh, Dallas and many more that are growing at least twice the growth rate for growing part of the USA are the latest tech centers.
The stagnant super metros and the ones shrinking were once the major manufacturing centers of the USA such as Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, Los Angeles. US major manufacturing has been in decline since the 1970s. Foolishly opening USA markets to the communist Chinese has only hastened the decline of these metros.
Big Metros
A big metro has a population of at least 500,000 and less than one million.
Typically, for big metros that are growing, such metros offer a combination of growing tech economies with nearness to the outdoors. The shrinking big metros are typically are older, regional centers of manufacturing from the 1900s until World War 2.
Mid Metros
A mid metro has a population of at least 250,000 and less than half a million.Growing mid metros offer a mix of tourism, retirement or nearness to the super tech metros such as Myrtle Beach (tourism, retirement) and Olympia (Seattle). Their shrinking counterparts are the satellite metros of manufacturing days gone by, cities like Duluth (Minneapolis), Utica (Syracuse) and Flint (Detroit).
Small Metros
A small metro has a population of at least 100,000 and less than a quarter million.Small metros tend to be magnets for retirees. The Villages in Florida, St. George in Utah and Bend in Oregon provide fine examples.
Midland is booming owing to the energy independence revolution under President Trump.
Slow growing and shrinking small metros were once railroad towns and specialty manufacturing centers that have long since lost in the era of globalization, cities like Altoona and Terre Haute.
Tiny Metros
A tiny metro has a population of less than 100,000.The story for tiny metros is much the same for mid metros and small metros. Growing tiny metros are growing owing to energy, tourism or retirement.
Many shrinking tiny metros have been mired in poverty for decades. Many others are simply too isolated from the Super metros and big metros, which lure away their smarter, skilled young adults.
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