13 December, 2015
Florida is the state where Americans and immigrants choose most to settle, shows the latest research.
Population continues to move from north to south in America. Florida is expected to add five million new residents by 2030, according to the state's Office of Economic and Demographic Research. While Florida is growing, the states of Illinois, Ohio and Michigan have lost the largest numbers of residents.
In 2014, Florida's population grew by over 108,000 people. The largest group packing their bags for the "Sunshine State" are young people right out of college.
"Young people generally move more for education or for a job," said Stefan Rayer, a population specialist at the University of Florida. "[Florida] is very attractive. It has big metropolitan areas. It has good job opportunities. That's why people are moving to Florida."
Florida's population grew over 17 percent between 2000 and 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Twenty percent of Florida's population are foreign immigrants, the American Immigration Council reported. Nearly 74 percent of the immigrants are from Latin America. Another 20 percent of foreigners relocating are from Europe and Asia.
The state's economy is staying healthy due to the population movement. Latino and Asian immigrants are adding $150 billion worth of purchases each year.
Other American states that have been named as being attractive by movers were Texas, South Carolina and North Carolina.
I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.
Jim Dresbach wrote this story for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.
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Words in This Story
demographic – n. the qualities, such as age, sex and income, of a specific group of people
metropolitan – adj. relating to a large city and the surrounding cities and towns
census – n. the official process of counting the number of people in a country, city or town and collecting information about them