STS BBNJ 08805 & VICINITY FORUM - - NOW 12 YEARS ONLINE 2008-2020

TRENTON -- A national moving company found more people left New Jersey in 2010 than moved to the Garden State, at a ratio that outpaced the rest of the lower 48 states.
 
United Van Lines, the nation's largest private moving company, tracked the 146,837 cross-state moves in 2010 and New Jersey had the most disproportionate amount of out migration.
 
The company found 62.5 percent of the moves in New Jersey were residents leaving the state, while only 37.5 percent were people entering the state. Washington D.C. ranked the highest on the opposite end of the spectrum, with 64.3 percent of moves going into the district.
 
A 2009 study by the Boston College Center on Wealth and Philanthropy found that between 2004 and 2008 New Jersey lost $70 billion in wealth as affluent residents moved elsewhere.
 
Governor Christie has cited that study, which commissioned by the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and the Community Foundation of New Jersey, as proof that the state's tax structure is pushing residents out of the state to places with lower burdens.
 
"It’s is more information supporting what we know: people are leaving New Jersey and taking their talent and wealth with them," Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said in an e-mail. "This is exactly what this Governor has been discussing since his arrival in Trenton.  His policies are geared toward stopping this out-migration. "