Iowa
We can appreciate all the golden cornfields of Iowa, but it does not help pay the bills. People mostly left the state due to work. In fact, it was the primary reason for more than 68 percent of those who flee. Even though the unemployment rate and living costs are fairly low, Iowa has not grown very rapidly. Census data revealed that its population only increased by 3.6 percent in the 2010s, below the national median of 6.3 percent. A former resident called Hiei2k7 on Reddit said they miss Iowa but not the Hawkeye State’s job prospects. “I have no upward mobility there,” they said. “Sure, I could have kept my comfy job in Cedar Rapids, kept stocking away money, and just lived out the rest of my days. Or tried to get a mate and start a family. But damn if I didn’t feel stagnated.”
Iowa
North Dakota
There is no scarcity of wide spaces in North Dakota, but it now feels emptier in this day and age. Nearly 60 percent of the people who move out want better job prospects. While the unemployment is low at only 2.4 percent, the residents find it hard to get the job they want. A Redditor called Modern_rabbit said that its laidback atmosphere might give newcomers “culture shock.” They said a “lack of public transportation, lack of style, lack of flavor, lack of air pollution (and) lack of seafood.”
North Dakota