Is this good? No, it is not.
Love can be blind, and also confining. People so love the city, the region, and the state that they never leave. There are benefits to such loyalty, but also huge challenges.
Chauvinism is a popular stance too often built on ignorance. We insist our hometown is better than anywhere else without the experience or knowledge to claim otherwise.
Imagine if the Phillies operated this way. Or the Eagles. OK, forget the Eagles.
For a seemingly cosmopolitan city, Philadelphia shares an equally high percentage of native-born residents - approximating 80 percent - as the state. Almost all Pennsylvania counties boast big native populations, far above the national average of 67 percent. (Elk County, 92.1 percent!) The exceptions are Monroe and Pike, the latter the state's fastest-growing because of its proximity to New York City.
In a mobile culture, we stay put. This is the state of couch potatoes.
Indeed, Philadelphia and Pennsylvania are so ingrown that residents are perpetually shocked that anyone from elsewhere would ever move here, as if you need a green card or something.
It's odd to hear other accents, let alone other languages. Only 9 percent of city residents - and 4 percent of the state's - are foreign-born.
By comparison, Arkansas is a bigger "magnet" state, attracting a larger percentage of new residents. So is West Virginia. And Mississippi.
For heaven's sake, even South Dakota draws more outsiders.
True, these states shed more native-born residents, but they also attract fresh blood and perspectives, diversifying and even improving the economic and cultural climate. Only Louisiana, Michigan, and New York (not the city, but the state) have a higher percentage of residents who were born there than does Pennsylvania.
