The American checks out US migratory patterns. The places that have weathered the recession the best:
These recession gainers are increasingly, at least in their major metro areas, two-tiered societies, with a highly educated and high-income native-born elite (augmented by high-skill immigrants) combined with an increasing body of relatively uneducated and low-income immigrant masses. Middle education and middle income have been squeezed out, though at a lesser rate in the recession. Politically, these states have voted heavily Democratic, with both tiers casting large Democratic percentages.
And the locations that have done the worst:
They fall into two classes. One is northern New England: the recession seems to have choked off movement to resort and small town areas; New Hampshire’s low-tax advantage seems to have diminished over the years, as neighboring Massachusetts has lowered its tax rates and Democrats who may increase taxes have dominated New Hampshire state government. The other class consists of auto-dependent Michigan and Ohio, which had a dire decade up through 2007 and an even worse one in 2007 to 2009. None of these states has had a significant immigrant inflow, unlike the Recession Gainers, which owe their current population growth to continued immigration.