The Coasts Are Tops: California and New York City Are the Most Popular Places People Would Choose to Live

RISMEDIA, Sept. 13, 2007-Easy access to the beach seems to be a key factor in deciding which state people would choose to live. According to a new Harris Poll, California remains number one this year, followed by Florida, which moved up from number three and Hawaii, which has dropped from number two. Florida has been in the top three ever since this question was first asked in 1997. When it comes to which city people would live in, New York City comes in as number one for the ninth time (out of the last 10 opportunities), San Diego, CA moves up one spot to second and Seattle, WA also moves up one place to be the third most popular city.These are some of the results of The Harris Poll®, a nationwide survey of 2,694 adults conducted online between August 7 and 13, 2007 by Harris Interactive®.

The next most popular states in which people would like to live are: North Carolina (#4, remaining the same as last year); Colorado (#5, moving up from #7); Texas (#6, dropping from #5); New York (#7, moving up from #8); Arizona (#8, moving up from #9); and Oregon (#9, moving up from #10). Three states are tied for the tenth spot on this list: Washington (was #6 last year); Tennessee (was #11 last year) and Virginia (was #12 last year).

Age plays a small role in the state people would choose to live in. The top choice for Baby Boomers (those aged 43-61) would be Hawaii, while California is tops for the other generations. For Echo Boomers (those aged 18-30), Texas moves up and is their number 2 choice. Generation Xers (those aged 31-42) and Matures (those 62 and older) break ranks with their 5th spot; for Gen Xers it is Pennsylvania and for Matures, the number 5 position goes to Oregon.

Favorite U.S. Cities to Live In

After NYC, San Diego and Seattle, the trend is to go West with one exception: San Francisco, CA (which dropped from #2 to #4). Las Vegas, NV remained the same as last year (#5); while Orlando, FL (#6, jumping up from #14), Honolulu, HI (#7, dropping from #6), Phoenix, AZ (#8, moving up from tied for #12), Denver, CO (tied for #9, dropping from tied for #7) and Los Angeles, CA (tied for #9, up from #11) all changed positions. Returning to the list of the 15 top cities this year are Charlotte, NC at #13 and Miami, FL at #15. Dropping out of the top 15 are Atlanta, GA (tied for #7) and Nashville, TN (#15).

Methodology

This Harris Poll® was conducted online within the United States between August 7 and 13, 2007 among 2,694 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

For more information, visit www.harrisinteractive.com.