The Pottses spent as much to buy their Pennsylvania house as they realized from their Jersey sale. "Basically, we swapped dollars," she said. "But for us, the move made perfect sense. We got rid of one car. I walk to work. It's a more convenient life."
According to the 2010 census, "in-migration" from New Jersey to Pennsylvania is a burgeoning movement that accounted for 80 percent of the Keystone State's net gain last year of 25,770 residents from other states.
In interviews with demographers, real estate agents, financial planners, and the recently relocated, tax savings, quality-of-life choices, and new commuting patterns emerged as the driving forces behind the influx.
Does that make Pennsylvania the new destination state?
Not of the magnitude of nationally ranked No. 1 Texas. But it is the undisputed leader in the Northeast, where all but three states saw more people move out than in: Vermont, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania, by far the most formidable draw.
In 2010, Pennsylvania's population was 12,577,555. That year, 235,580 out-of-staters arrived and 209,810 residents moved out, for an in-migration gain of 25,770 - the eighth-largest nationwide.
(The tabulations do not include births, deaths, or immigration from overseas.)
"The commuting zones for New York, New Jersey, and Maryland are expanding into Pennsylvania," said Gordon De Jong, professor of sociology and demography at Pennsylvania State University.
According to De Jong, the Pennsylvania counties most benefiting from state-to-state moves are: Pike and Monroe, within commuting distance of the New York metropolitan labor market; Northampton, Bucks, and Lehigh, with proximity to New Jersey's labor market; and York, Adams, and Franklin, within the Baltimore/Hagerstown metropolitan market.
