RFP Staff
♦ Recently we had a conversation with friends over coffee about the youth drain affecting many small cities and towns across the U.S.A. This ongoing “youth drain” is why many local college and high school students leave Salisbury soon after graduation. It is a reality that many young people leave small cities and towns to live in large metro areas and their burbs. It’s acknowledged that somewhere around 80% of Americans now live in larger metropolitan areas.
Brighter, more educated young people are more attracted to larger cities with all they have to offer. These more educated young form part of Salisbury’s outward bound educated working class. Many small cities and towns fade quietly into a lack of consequence. Those few young people who remain in Salisbury are often poor, started families earlier, or are typical unmotivated hangers-on. Since 2007 as jobs dwindled in Salisbury and the immediate area, the amount of young people looking for more career fulfillment and better paying jobs elsewhere, left.
The youth drain joined with the outward bound educated working class, leaving Salisbury and unloading homes when possible on a bloated housing market. Young families with school age children looked to move because of our challenged public school system in Salisbury. The working class flight was spurred on due to the city’s crime and growing poverty.
A previous article “Outrun the Salisbury, N.C. Housing Stampede. Tips on Selling Your House F A S T!”:
