With the single exception of Las Vegas, no city proper makes the list of substantial gainers; American taxpayers by and large are outward bound. But this isn't uniformly a migration to exurbs, or to traditional Sunbelt or Western destinations like Florida or Arizona.

The trails often lead north, to the lakes of Minnesota and Wisconsin; to the foothills of northern Georgia; to the forests of northern California; to the fields of northern Michigan. Cass County, Minn., 120 miles from Minneapolis, is on the list, as is Shasta County, Calif., 180 miles from San Francisco.

While Michigan, hard hit by auto industry cuts, is losing population overall, six of its counties are among the top gainers.

Yet the logic is not obscure: The new destinations are precisely the places, like Archer County, that have been undervalued — whether by industry or agriculture or mass leisure or urban flight. They are the places where you can still get something that feels like a good life, without the salary of a chief executive.

"South of the Twin Cities, it's much richer soil, and more intense farming, and the land prices are high," said Marty Ringham, a real estate agent who lives 80 miles north of Minneapolis in the heart of a remote boom area. "Here the soil has more clay content, and the agricultural value is not so high. It's not an exact science, but we figure that the same house is about $1,200 cheaper for every mile you go north."