Rhode Island Population – Moving In, Moving Out

Rhode Island Population – Moving In, Moving Out

What are the top states that Rhode Islanders move to? Where do most new arrivals to the Ocean State come from?

Using latest available tax return data from the IRS, GoLocalProv has ranked the top five destination states as well as the top five places from which people move to Rhode Island. The results show that Rhode Islanders don’t tend to go very far when they move—but those who do spread out across the country. As for where most new Rhode Islanders come from the data shows a big split—between those who just hopped across neighboring state borders, and others who had to come much, much farther.

 

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

Click here to see the top five destination states for people leaving Rhode Island.
Click here to see the top five places new arrivals come from.
(The data compares changes from 2007 to 2008 based on the number of tax returns filed.)

Just what drives people to move from one state to another? A recent study by a local research institute says Rhode Island’s bad tax and business climate drives the wealthy away to more conservative states like Florida. But other studies argue that a broader range of factors are at work—such as housing, the job market, and quality of life issues.

Why people leave

Several residents who are leaving seemed to confirm the theory about high taxes. Tom Letourneau, of Cumberland, said he and his wife plan to move to the Beaufort-Charleston area in South Carolina. He estimates that lower taxes and lower costs of living will save them $10,000 a year.

Another departing Rhode Islander is headed in the opposite direction—but for similar reasons. He told GoLocalProv that it will be cheaper for him to live right on Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire, rather than stay in his Warwick Neck home, where he pays $30,000 a year in property taxes.

What draws people to RI

The reasons why people end up in Rhode Island tend to be more varied, based on interviews with several comparatively new arrivals. But they all struck a common theme—regardless of what brought them to Rhode Island, what has kept them here is the vibrant sense of creativity and community that sets the Providence area apart from any other city they have known.

Jobs Kelly Ramirez moved to Rhode Island from Michigan about two years ago because her husband, Andres, got a job as a finance professor at Bryant University. But the couple is staying because they have fallen in love with their new home in Warwick. “We found Pawtuxet Village and just love the village feeling,” said Ramirez, who is executive director of Social Venture Partners.

“We continue to be pleasantly surprised by how many things Rhode Island has to offer,” she said, ticking off a long list of discoveries the couple made after moving—the diversity of ethnic neighborhoods, small towns, and the creative community in Providence. “To me it really is a gem of a state,” she concluded. “People outside of Rhode Island don’t really hear how beautiful it is.”

Housing Providence first caught the fancy of Andy Cutler, a communications designer, when he came up from New York City to visit his then-girlfriend. Cutler decided to make the move permanent because of how affordable homes were and ended up buying an 1896 historic Victorian home on the West Side of Providence. “In any other market that would be five times the cost,” said Cutler, who has lived in Boston, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay area.

One of the things that’s kept him here: “The community and collaboration that exist here,” Cutler said. “I don’t use those two words lightly.”

Picked Providence after Nationwide Search In 2001, Allan Tear and his wife decided it was time to leave Atlanta. “It was sort of a doughnut city without a center,” Tear said. “We were looking for a city with a nice chewy middle.”

Tear and his wife wrote out a list of what they were looking for in a city—in all they came up with 37 categories, ranging from schools and cost of living to the “road driving style” of residents and the diversity of neighborhoods. The couple came up with a list of a dozen cities and scored them in each of the categories. “Since I’m an engineer, we weighted each one separately,” Tear said.

Tear and his wife, who have lived abroad in India and the United Kingdom, spent the next year traveling to most of the cities. After a year-long, nationwide search, the decision came down to Portland, Oregon or Providence—and the Tears went with their gut. “We were looking for a place you could get your arms around and sink your teeth into,” Tear said.

He soon found that much the same thing could be said for the entire state. “There’s such a diversity of resources in a 40 by 40 space,” he said. “You’ve got beaches. You’ve got rural areas. You’ve got rich city life. You’ve got mansions—and you’re in the mega corridor of Boston to New York. ... I think it’s a quirky but friendly pocket in between two cities that aren’t known for their friendliness.”

Tear, who is one of the co-founders of Betaspring, shrugs off the claims that Rhode Island is not very business friendly. “Providence is a good place for people who are scrappy, who are good at making something out of nothing,” he said, recalling what a friend once told him. “Everything’s not laid out for you very easily. I can understand why that turns some people off. I think that’s a place that attracts entrepreneurs, because entrepreneurs make something out of nothing.”