That Bezos quote is pretty dodgy, but to address your point: Ask anyone in Denver and they'll tell you there's a mass exodus out of Chicago. Or ask anyone in Miami and they'll tell you there's a mass exodus out of Philly. People move around. I think this is a similar phenomenon to buying a car and "seeing that car everywhere all of a sudden." It's all about perspective. In this sense, data is always better than anecdotes.
If locals are leaving a place and being replaced by international immigrants then it explains the anecdotes. Everyone is more likely to know more people that left a place than moved there.
Also it will show in other stats. People in other states tell me there is an exodus there from California or New England, and their reasoning is based on differences in truck rental prices going either direction, which international immigrants don't need but domestic migrants do.
...and I think that represents a serious problem. If skilled labor and companies are moving out, and unskilled labor/immigrants are moving in, that is a major problem for the tax base.
Crime anecdotes are famously totally wrong, people always say crime has gone up recently even though it's collapsed in most US cities even since 2000 or 2010.
What this actually means is that people are watching too much TV.
It's genuinely terrifying to realize just how much power mass media holds over shaping public opinion. Without even lying usually, simply choosing what to report and who to give a platform.
American media isn't even particularly bad in this respect, it looks generally fair and reasonable compared to eg, the British media.
There is an assumption in your comment: that crimes get reported and recorded uniformly.
There is a good reason why international comparison of crime tends to concentrate on murder. Crimes are neither reported not recorded the same way. Murder sorta-kinda comes closest in this regard: it is pretty hard to ignore violent deaths.
Things like endemic petty theft have the potential to make people move to another city, while their official record is pretty low.
Not sure crime is the best choice of example given the statistically low rates of crime in SF combined with firms shutting up shop because there is so much (unreported) crime.
On the east coast I used to buy snacks passed to me through a pulletproof wall. Yes, the entire store was behind plexiglass.
Why they don't do this in tweaker central, I don't understand.
No, we'll tell you there's a mass exodus out of Texas and California, because that's the majority of out-of-state plates on the road in the metro area. And also the majority of out-of-state plates on vehicles that have gone into the ditch or median when it snows.
Denver sucks now. Kindly find somewhere else to go, y'all have been sending my rent through the damned roof, and companies insist on paying pre-boom salaries.
