

Ever wonder where people from Chicago move to, or where newly minted residents come from? Last week, the United States Census Bureau released a ginormous amount of data about migration trends by county and made a fun interactive tool to zoom in on individual counties across the country. The data is pulled together from a five year survey spanning from 2007-2011. Let's take a look at Cook County, shall we?

The Census has nicely color coded their map for us, but the labeling is a bit confusing. When selecting a county, in our case we have chosen Cook, the yellow counties are where Cook County residents have moved to, creating a net population gain for that county. The blue counties are ones that have lost residents to Cook county, as they moved from their previous town/city/village to settle in Cook county. We can see that Chicago is the Mecca of the midwest, as people from all over the region have left their homes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana and Ohio to settle in the Windy City and its surrounding suburbs. Michigan is the one shining exception, as many Chicagoans have made the Wolverine State their new home. Many counties throughout Illinois have also lost considerable amounts of people to the Chicago area. Former Cook County residents also seem to really like the Gulf region, as Florida and southern Alabama have taken in heaps of folks from the Chicago area. Surprisingly, lots of residents from Los Angeles County and its surrounding area have waved goodbye to the temperate weather and smoggy skies of LA to make Cook County their new home turf.

· A Detailed Map of the Net Migration Flows for Every U.S. County [The Atlantic Cities]

· Where New Yorkers Go When They Move Away, And Vice Versa [Curbed NY]

· Census Bureau Statistics Show Origin and Destination of the Nearly 17 Million Who Move Between Counties Each Year [US Census]

· US Census flow mapper [US Census]