Why Millions of People Left the Rust Belt - American Migration

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The decline of the Rust Belt sparked a mass migration by every since of the word, millions of people leaving their cities and states to try their luck elsewhere. In many ways, it has been one of the defining American population events of the last half century. But it’s a migration that’s often overlooked, as it all happened within the boundaries of the same country. Where did they come from? Where are they going? How has America’s history shaped the movements of its inhabitants? And what do people’s decisions to leave one region for another tell us about the issues the country faces? These are the questions I’ll ask in American Migration, a new series exploring mass migrations within the United States.
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[@ThatIsInterestingTII]

Go to sponsr.is/cs_tii_0923 and use code TII to save 25% off today. Thanks to Curiosity Stream for sponsoring today’s video.

[@Battleneter]

What I hate about these kinds of videos, the Metro area of Pittsburgh is 2.3 million people, so the question becomes has Pittsburgh "really" been losing population or is it a case of people moving to the suburbs which has happened in so many other cities.

[@desertodavid]

I quit listening to you for several reasons but the last straw was when you showed that still map 1:00 without explaining what the hell we were looking at.

[@Irish_For_Life1842]

Investigate the automobile industry. I am not sure of the EXACT cut off but Indiana had more automobile manufacturers than any state for decades. Between the affects of the Great Depression and WWII contracts that overly went to the biggest manufacturers, Michigan took over.

[@NickIggler1969]

@@Battleneterscam

[@NickIggler1969]

Scam

[@weirdshibainu]

I witnessed this first hand and the impact on families was terrible-kids sent to live with relatives, divorces, suicides, rampant substance abuse, mental health problems. It was sad.

[@scottanno8861]

As a westerner in Utah I always felt bad for the decline of the nation's ancestral heartland in Pennsylvania and upstate New York. It might sound strange, but cities in Utah like Provo and Salt Lake now feel more "American" than what happened to the inner cities of the rust belt. White flight was certainly a role in the decline.

[@daveharringbone8512]

It’s still sad

[@mrmarkymark77]

@@scottanno8861leave or be unemployed…

[@curtbrockhaus6131]

The U.S. south (confederacy) joined the Nazi Axis industries 40 years after WW2, coastal states joined them and added much propaganda. They were joined by many nations worldwide and oddly enough some wealthy Israelis. Toyota Rev 13:18 Recently some of their Axis vehicles combined to dam the North Crimean Canal, one of the Great Construction Projects of Communism. We know what happened next.

[@-Swamp_Donkey-]

@@scottanno8861come on mow, blacks can run a city just as well as Whites can. There’s so many examples like… uh… hold on… I’ll think of one

[@taridean]

A number of us outside the US are taught an overview about the Rust Belt region, but this video really helped understand it even deeper.

[@jackm0429]

As a Michigander that’s interesting to hear

[@PA-yy8vu]

What country are you from ?

[@zacharyconner9319]

Interesting. Yeah, where are you from?

[@taridean]

I'm from Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 originally, but mostly live in the UK 🇬🇧.

[@SubvertTheState]

I didnt learn about the rust belt and I live in the rust belt lol. Actually US education is mostly a waste of time, US history is essentially told in a fable style, making saints out of the founders, then slavery and the Civil War. Basically skip to world war 1 and 2. And right over the most formative years of America, manifest destiny, eradication of the native people's, destruction of the land, poisoning of the waterways and the many attempts to create company empires. The history of company towns, scrip and anti union wars are crucially important. But that would shift the narrative from race and American Exceptionalism, to US empire building, conquering of islands, peoples and nations in the Pacific. The creation of company empires in South America using forced labor until recently. All of this was not touched in school. I learned about all of that stuff on KZbin.

[@ralphgreenjr.2466]

I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio in the shadow of Republic Steel, US Steel, and Youngstown Sheet and Tube. My family and my wife's family were all steel workers. I went to work at YS&T at age 18 and at age 19 I was drafted. That ultimately saved my life, as I stayed for 30 years in the Army. My wife and I both got a college educations and operate a small farm in southern Ohio. Life is good! My family not so good. They all believed the mills would come back, Congressman Traficante said so. They are still waiting and the Youngstown area is poverty central. They worked low wage jobs and now exist on Social Security. September 19, 1977 YS&T closed immediately putting 5,000 men out of work. It was just the beginning of the end. US Steel and Republic followed along with the trucking industry, railroads, shops, banks, restaurants, it was a domino effect that still lingers to this day.

[@OldSaltyBear]

As someone who moved to Youngstown and bought his first home there nearly 15 years ago, I always found it amazing how little appreciation the people who were born there have for the area. I ask you... how many cities with less than 150k residents have TWO play houses, a symphony orchestra, a Warner Theatre, a growing University, a botanical garden, a nationally recognized Museum of American Art and a city park with a community golf course, lakes to fish and boat and tons of walking trails? It blows my mind that a city that sits less than a 90 minute drive to Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Akron... having major interstates connecting them... is completely overlooked by major distribution centers and manufacturing. Bonus being that housing is dirt cheap compared to the rest of the US. Yeah sure there aren't the same high paying jobs as their once were, but what remains of the community is incredible for such a small town. Yes there are a lot of poor and blighted areas, but most of the people who live there still take pride in their home and community. They do the best they can with what they have, are super nice and are always willing to help a neighbor out even when they themselves are struggling. I guess its for the best that you got out because your poor opinion of where you grew up is part of the problem. You could have stayed and helped make Youngstown a great city again, but instead you ditched and left it to outsiders who see it for the incredible unpolished gem that it is.

[@dieselford9184]

I’ve always felt Youngstown went the same way as Pittsburgh, both cities once booming with the steel industry now mostly abandoned by steel. But that’s case with most of the region, a majority of the blue collar jobs around here now pay low wages. I work in Cleveland at the Ford plant, Ohio used to be an auto industry power house. Our campus alone used to have four plants employing about 20k people. Now we’re down to one plant employing about 1900 people. It’s quite sad what has happened through out the years.

[@elpacho....9254]

@@dieselford9184Japan kicked your arse.

[@elpacho....9254]

@@OldSaltyBearmuseum of farts?

[@baddbabylon]

Well the Mafia turning Youngstown into "Bomb City" didn't exactly help things.

[@n00b5lay3r]

I've lived in Scranton nearly my whole life and it fascinates me going downtown and seeing all the "skyscrapers". Buildings which nowadays are quite small compared to other skyscrapers, they must've been quite a sight back in their heyday. It often saddens me seeing all the abandoned factories and warehouses, the rundown houses, apartment complexes, and roads. The memories of a once thriving community. Nowadays Scranton's population is less than half what it was nearly a century ago.

[@JordanR-e4y]

Now the UofS and the Arch Diocese own that city with both being tax exempt. Also, the culture of addiction and alcoholism run deep. Work hard for shit money. Drink away anything that resembles a feeling and make sure to hate anything progressive is a way of life for Scr/WB

[@georgehancock2307]

Do you know Dwight?

[@samanthab1923]

Both my grandparents were from Scranton. Both educated they saw the writing on the wall back in 1934. Moved to NYC. My dad was born in ‘35. Went back every summer as a kid. Funny thing is he moved us to NJ in the 60’s & after 25 years he was looking to move to PA. Jersey taxes & such. It’s where I live today.

[@michah321]

I've lived in Scranton since the 90s. I haven't seen a ton of changes. I checked the population numbers, it's virtually flat since 1990

[@n00b5lay3r]

@@georgehancock2307 No, but I do know Jim!

[@phillipschaber7836]

Growing up in Toledo, I watched the “decay” first hand. Toledo was once thought that it would be the nations “Chicago” it’s where two of the busiest and largest interstates in the country meet, in I-80 and I-75 meet in Toledo. Right on Lake Erie, between chicago and New York, it was thought it would become an economic powerhouse of the Midwest on par with detroit just one hour to the north. Something akin to the twin cities or Raleigh-Durham, both equally large areas but both equally their own but together. That’s what they though toledo would be and during ww2 and for a few years after, that may have been the case. Libby glass, Jeep, Chrysler, Libbey-owens-ford (now known as Trinova I think) Owens corporation (think pink panther insulation) and Dow chemical all had headquarters there. If you look at a photo of downtown Toledo, all those taller buildings were built in the 30s,40s,50s and the last large one, known as the “glass tower” or the “tower on the maumee” was the last true skyscraper built in Toledo and it wasn’t long after that Libbey glass shipped jobs down south to Mexico and China, Libbey Owens Ford was sold to a company in the UK, the Willy’s jeep plant closed down in the late 90s when they moved to north Toledo assembly plant. It was sad to see that building go when it was torn down because of the history associated with it. It’s where tens of thousands of the jeeps for ww2 were made. But yeah, Toledo was once thought it would grow to millions in the Toledo proper and suburbs and these days, last I knew the population in Toledo and the surrounding areas was something like 350-400k… crazy to drive around there and see a lot of the old infrastructure and know what it once was.

[@terminallygray]

You from T-town too ??? The saddest part was when LOF skated away after their 20 year lease ran out (Taxes, ya know) and just left that big ole' empty building by the river to the city. Moved to Perrysburg - never looked back. It's still a great place to raise a family (low crime) but fewer & fewer jobs mean less people and then even fewer jobs, like a vicious circle. IMHO Toledo should "make the call" and become part of Michigan. We get treated like we're from Detroit anyway, Colombus is too far away and now that Ohio is a red state. We're doomed just like Cleveland. Southwyck mall closed for over 20 years until Amazon finally bought the land and put up a multi-million $$$ warehouse. The surrounding properties are still empty though. I worked for the US Census in 2000 and the population just dropped to below 300K but the Burbs were still growing (in Y2K). In other words, not much has changed and government doesn't care either. I wish I had some better news but.....that's life.

[@phillipschaber7836]

truthfully I grew up about 20 minutes south of Toledo in, Monclova, but if I say that no one knows what it is lol... I was downtown every day though, I worked down there for a couple years. Pretty much all of my extended family plus my dad and step still live in the area. I left in 2012 and have been back exactly once since then lol. Will be there in April tough, take a trip down to lima for the eclipse.. I miss it sometimes but everyone always misses where they grew up.. I still follow the news there and while overall crime is down it seems like violent crime is on the upswing.. every other day its "shooting here, this person shot and robbed over there, that guy killed 2 people in a gang dispute" yeah, like you said they call Toledo "little Detroit" for a reason... some neighborhoods you just don't venture into... even at 2 in the afternoon on a Wednesday, these days... @@terminallygray

[@terminallygray]

@@phillipschaber7836 Always good to find somebody that admits they're from here. Enjoy....glad to hear you GTFO when you could. I still have family here too.

[@DopeyDetector]

Bahahahaha

[@Tommy88-]

I think Dayton is kind of the same way. It was prosperous but then went into a sharpe decline and never recovered.

[@_megwaters]

As someone from Coventry, England I find the parallels so interesting. The city was one of the first to produce cars, and the main point of car, watch, and bicycle production in the UK and parts of Western Europe for the majority of the 19th and 20th centuries, seeing booms in population (especially post-war) to the point that most people from and around the area can name at least three family members or family friends who were somehow involved in production. It’s so strange walking through a near empty city, now regarded a national joke, with so many retail parks and housing estates laying on the grounds of what once were mile long factories.

[@jkr9594]

Same with the german Ruhr valley. It's almost the same in every industrial area of the economic west.

[@voiceofreason2674]

It is kinda sad wealthy Americans bought rolls Royce Bentley and jaguar more than any other foreign luxury brands up until the 1960s at which point they switched over to the German brands. People who had living memory of fighting the Germans had no issue investing into the factories that had helped kill Americans. It took average Americans much longer to switch over to foreign autos

[@bubba842]

​@@voiceofreason2674I think you need to let go buddy. I don't really care something comes from, and most people in the US only want cheap, no matter where it is from.

[@crustyrash]

I visited Glasgow in the late 1980’s and it very much reminded me of where I grew up-Niagara Falls NY-in regards to the loss of industry. I went back a few years ago and was so impressed with how the city has been revitalized.

[@JoeZorzin]

@@voiceofreason2674 Average Americans switched to Japanese cars and trucks because the American vehicles sucked- and the Japanese were sooo much better. A bit more expensive but not much more. I'm driving a 20 year old Toyota Tacoma pickup. Never had a problem with the engine, transmission or clutch. During WWII, Americans hated the Japanese even more than the Germans.

[@X1GenKaneShiroX]

Fun fact: Alabama, a state in the Sun Belt, has fewer people than Hong Kong, despite both areas having similar climate, precipitation, and temperatures. Hong Kong surpassed the Alabama population somewhere in the 1960s. Alabama in 2023 is growing a bit faster, though, in terms of percentage increase.

[@Cheattoe]

Also the issues with comparing the USA with chinas geography is instead of having the Great Plains they have the Himalayan mountains which greatly affects the climate not to mention you have the desolate Mongolian steps the jungles to the south and the ocean to the east it basically hems in the Chinese population to a few key areas that are prone to flooding also these are a traditional rice farming culture which demands more people it’s all about the geography

[@jadapinkett1656]

China has also always been among the top two most populous nations.

[@garyt3hsna1l82]

Hong Kong also has nearly double the GDP, at 369 billion crazy.

[@mxr572]

comparing Alabama to HK is a joke!

[@ac.6667]

@@mxr572fr like comparing Denmark with fresno

[@Alex_Plante]

When you look at the population graphs, there was a definite inflection point around 1980. I'm old enough to remember the late 1970s and 1980s. The decline of the heavy industrial heartland, not just in the USA, but in many other countries, especially the UK, was a result of deliberate policy. From the late 1970s, the USA adopted a strong currency policy and at the same time opened up trade with Mexico, China and other developing countries. Entire plants (the equipment, not the buildings) were dismantled and shipped to China and Mexico, especially in the 1980s. It was done in order to bring down inflation and break the unions. Union membership dropped from about 40% of the workforce then to about 10% now. Also, after war broke out between China and the USSR in the 1960s, the US wanted to boost the Chinese economy as part of a strategy of surrounding and containing the Soviet Union. The joke at the time was the US had more Communists on their side than the Soviets did.

[@daniellarson3068]

Some called it neoliberalism. Some called it Reaganomics. Some just called it bad.

[@allenschmitz9644]

Kissinger love taps.

[@jdburris4455]

Oh its no joke there's commies everywhere. From the white house on down.

[@NoahBodze]

You fool. Blacks moved north and made everything too dangerous and expensive. “White flight” and “offshoring” were long-term responses to blacks moving north.

[@JoeZorzin]

" It was done in order to bring down inflation and break the unions." NAILED IT! But, what war between China and the USSR in the '60s? There was a minor border skirmish but it was hardly a war. Nixon and Kissinger definitely wanted to "play the China card" against the USSR. In his book "China" Kissinger explains this in detail.

[@choreomaniac]

I moved to Pittsburgh about 5 years ago and love it here. I’ve pieces together most of what you presented but have never seen it all in one place. Excellent work and well researched. I think it is safe to say that the worst is behind the rust belt and the best is behind the sun belt. Pittsburgh will not lag the growth of the rest of the country by a huge margin and Nevada will not have 10x growth. In 1940, the city of Pittsburgh had 60 times as many people as the entire state of Nevada. Today, Las Vegas alone is twice as big as Pittsburgh.

[@jakewilson7112]

Michigan here. If you think the rust belt will improve beyond its ghetto trash reality, you are insane. Working class are fleeing these disgusting cities, while the welfare abusers are moving in from every state they cant exploit. Our governors economic revitalization is selling our land to China.... a nation known for loading chained minorities into train cars.

[@BlueAgaveStudios]

And ironically, dying of thirst.

[@SmashedGlass]

Watching the life go out of northeastern Ohio in 80s as a teen was brutal.

[@thomasbehrend7562]

We moved from Akron in 1983

[@djt8518]

Reagan did it

[@gustavusadolphus4344]

​@@djt8518ah yes the classic "blame a singular politician when things go goes wrong" mentality.

[@djt8518]

@@gustavusadolphus4344 I was there i saw it happen I lived through it 30% unemployment never did recover can't buy a job there now

[@allenschmitz9644]

just say no dude.@@gustavusadolphus4344

[@prototropo]

Carter, Your research, writing, graphic presentation, narration and choice of topics is wonderful, and exactly the material--and quality of production & delivery--that I once accessed from newspapers, periodicals & encyclopedias. In fact, you represent the best iteration of new serious media, which, for better or worse, is possibly replacing the daily columnist, weekly essayist and long-form monthly writing of the great print press media of the 20th century. I don't want to lose the print press, or public radio. But if they had to go, or change, I'm very, very glad people like you are filling the new opportunities!

[@nickimontie]

Great video! As a former resident of Ohio in a former industrial town, it's sad to see the empty store fronts and houses. As the work force changes, things are slowly improving, but not nearly fast enough in some areas. People moved to the larger cities, but they took their $$ with them, which the town could use.

[@jameswalker68]

James in Australia here. Carter, this was HUGELY interesting!! So glad this came up in my recommendations, as this type of content to me is so fascinating. Love the "how" and "why", and the history behind things like this. Great presentation and quality Carter, well done! Subscribed - and I'm so looking forward to the rest in this series. And now I'm off to binge a few more of your videos! Keep up the great work. Best wishes from down under. (Curiosity Stream looks great too!)

[@Will-ef2tw]

The Midwest is a fascinating and friendly region you should consider visiting someday.

[@jameswalker68]

@@Will-ef2tw Hey there Will. Thanks so much for your msg. It’s on my bucket list. I’ve got close - been to New York and New Jersey, just need to go a little further west! In my mind I always kind of think of the Midwest as the heart land of the US. All the people I have met from those states have been the nicest and kindest people you would ever hope to meet Are you from that region yourself, Will?

[@Will-ef2tw]

@jameswalker68 They are friendly there more so than new york or new jersey that's for sure lol. I'm from Los Angeles but I've been to many states.

[@jameswalker68]

@@Will-ef2tw Haha..yes, New York seemed like it would be a tough place to live! I’ve been to Los Angeles too. Also Seattle and Hawaii. All very different places!

[@Mattb81]

I’m Australian too. I’ve spent a lot of time touring around 35 states in the US. Most Aussies tend to just go to LA & NYC, but I think the best experiences I had were in the south & mid west. Nice scenery & friendly people had me feeling like I was at home but still somewhere new.

[@Transmontaine]

This is the best report I’ve seen about the Rust Belt on KZbin. The makers clearly know their subject and have covered the events comprehensively. Great work!

[@crustyrash]

Great video! I am a child of the rust belt having been born and raised in Niagara Falls, NY. My great grandparents were from Poland and ended up in NF where my great grandfather worked shoveling coal into a blast furnace. Why exactly did Eastern Europeans end up in these sorts of jobs, I’ve never heard that factoid before. Two important points about Buffalo and NY: (1) the grain elevator was invented in Buffalo circa 1850-all that grain from the Midwest would come to Buffalo, get processed, and then sent down the Erie Canal. (2) NF had cheap hydroelectricity which ended up fueling the chemical industry because certain processes required lots of electric power. I’m looking forward to future videos!

[@ViceCoin]

Most of the rural employers are now in prisons or Walmart.

[@joycem2266]

Ha! I took two entire history classes at Univ. Buffalo on those topics (Well very very specifically the grain elevator and then 'Energy, Environment, and Western, NY', because, y'know, Love Canal)

[@davidwelty9763]

I have also thought of the rust belt as places road salt is used, because it rusts out the vehicles that use those roads. During the winter.

[@tomfields3682]

😂

[@concernedcitizen9466]

Thats makes sense. Pretty much describes the region.

[@maineeveryday796]

Exactly

[@pinchapicodust9432]

From Buffalo here, not sure why ppl call us upstate New York and not western. Look at a map we are almost parallel with NYC. Upstate Ny is Albany and the Adirondack mountains not Buffalo lol

[@sleedgear]

What a great video! This really helps put into perspective the past and present of the region. I’m excited for the next videos in the series

[@Sethsnake]

As a native Detroiter, i left to go west so i could escape the winters and mosquitoes. I still visit Michigan often and the summers are amazing there if you exclude the bugs :)

[@lisapop5219]

Native Detroiter also. So was my husband. We left the state also. We go back, but damn it's depressing. I miss my neighborhood, but it's not the same.

[@glennso47]

As a resident of northern Illinois I can confirm that autumn is the most beautiful time of year with the colors of the trees. I would assume that anywhere in the upper Midwest is the same.

[@UnkindPenguin71]

Too many of these weak minded people whining about cold weather Ya’ll mfers love to run your AC’s out west for 11 months of the year.

[@MichiganUSASingaporeSEAsia]

Correction. Detroit’s population did not go south. They went to the suburbs due to the new ongoing built super highways.) Detroit homes are old and the suburbs has new homes, streets with much yard space. You never mentioned that Detroit was the riches city in the USA back in 1950s so therefore people could afford to relocate to newer neighborhoods, ( (now Detroits suburbs are some of the wealthiest in the USA. )) Detroit has recently revitalized and reinvented itself and the people are returning, slowly but surely. More diversity is returning too. Detroit is also building a new skyscraper and largest suspension bridge in the USA. Too add, Ford will be opening up the former train station which will be state of the art EV coined as the brain station to rival Silicon Valley… Lastly, many of California population growth came from Asia and South America. It wasn’t that Americans were moving h the eir from the Midwest. To add, California is currently the fastest shrinking state in the USA with the most bankrupt cities in the USA too. If it wasn’t with the foreigners still immigrating to California, it would be even worse today… Nt

[@Sethsnake]

@@MichiganUSASingaporeSEAsia The gold rush and Dust Bowl would disagree with no midwest migration to California. You are right about going to the burbs though. After the riots white flight happened extremely quick and detroit has lost more than half of its peak population. California is shrinking due to the housing market being insane from few homes being built and the middle class being pushed out. It is still the largest state in terms of population compared to any other state. The Los Angeles metropolitan area alone has more people than the entire state of Michigan.

[@ShamileII]

What a great documentary...better than just a "video" I own an aluminum manufacturing company in Florida and grew up in cookware manufacturing in Georgia. All the equipment we used to use were all made in Cleveland Ohio and NY state. Our lathes were Warner & Swazy and our presses were Cleveland. I still remember as a teen learning how to set up our Cleveland 12 T...a 350 ton double action press. Just great well made "Made in America 🇺🇸 " equipment. It's such a shame to see our manufacturing prowess reduced to rusting hulks. One thing that I found amusing is that "the influx of immigrants " added needed jobs to successful growth. How things have changed from optimism and growth to xenophobia and fear. I'm now financially retired and more of an investor in oil, natural gas terminals and pipelines. Once again, great documentary and runs well with my personal and family's manufacturing background. Thanks!

[@dessiesolomonjr-nl6zl]

Hi Carter. I'm from Pittsburgh too. I moved to Cleveland almost a year ago. I have noticed how things have changed especially in Pittsburgh over the past 30 years. I am benefitting from the recent rebound of Cleveland especially since the Cavaliers won the NBA Championship in 2016.

[@uncle.d.]

It,is very interesting content. We do have our own rust belt here in Germany, which is the so called Ruhrgebiet or „Pott“. Since the 70s of the last century it’s constantly declining, some cities really struggling, some,others doing better. The reputation of the area within Germany and germans is not very high, anyway, since the cities very perfectly infrastructured and most of them could keep it up for the most of it parts, it’s a region with very competitive house prices and relatively high living standard , means, ok paid jobs with comparatively lower living costs, especially compared to the souther German region. What I wanted to say, u can see very much parallels with our rust belt compared to urs.

[@johndroyson7921]

All of your presentations are very well put together, clear, and concise. Nice work

[@jackm0429]

As a Michigander things are getting a lot better in Detroit but hopefully it sky rockets and the entire region can prosper even more, I think this area is the heart of the country and it should be on top

[@philipgermani1616]

Agreed. I have hoped for a turnaround of this region all my life. Born in the 50s in Cleveland, I have seen it all! I am in Cincinnati now, and we have the same optimism for our town.

[@jackm0429]

@@philipgermani1616 Cincy is a good place as a Michigander I do have some grudges against Ohio lol but mainly for Columbus I just hope the entire region flourishes no matter our rivalries

[@jackm0429]

@@philipgermani1616 Cleveland also has a nice downtown it’s on the comeback like Detroit I’ll say

[@archieharrison9433]

Sorry. Your weather is too cold for half the country to deal with.

[@kami6401]

The North will rise again

[@zacharyconner9319]

This channel is stellar. Thanks for the content, it is so well done! Inspires me, too.

[@SolaceEasy]

Carter, this is your most polished effort yet. Kudos.

[@BlueAgaveStudios]

As somebody who lived in Pittsburgh, that happened during Reagan.

[@EFO841]

I have to admit toward the end I did start to feel a sense of affection for my home region. It's been in decline for decades, and is seen as a backwater now, but I think it can look forward to a better future

[@russodee4354]

Great video. Australia de-industrialized too but it never had as many jobs at stake as the US steel and auto belt. Also all our industry was in large cities where services jobs replaced them. Pittsburgh seems to have so much beauty and hills and water surely one day it will be re-invented and re-populated. If Pittsburgh was in Australia the downtown and riverside areas and hills would be gentrified and trendy young things would live there.

[@jonathanstensberg]

This was surprisingly comprehensive, but you missed one huge thing: freedom of the seas enforced by the hegemonic US Navy enabled the development of mind-bogglingly enormous ocean freighters. This made it cheaper to transport goods across the ocean by water than across the country by rail. Just as the railroads had erased the advantage of producing goods locally, the ocean freighters erased the advantage of producing goods nationally.

[@TheSmokinApples]

have you been listening Peter Zeihan?

[@craigbenz4835]

@@TheSmokinApples That was my first thought also. I can't say he's wrong though.

[@jonathanstensberg]

@@TheSmokinApples I think I heard one interview a year ago; otherwise, no.

[@CL-mu2wk]

I lived near Albany for a while. Driving west on i90 always generated this almost ennui type feeling. You could see that these towns (Schenectady, Syracuse, Rochester, etc.) were once amazing places to live (I believe it's off of route 7 near Schenectady, there's this abandoned 50' tall marble layered garden that is just left to rot), but have since fallen on hard times. It's sad to see these quite sturdy built houses from the late 1800s and early 1900s simply fall into disrepair due to the population exodus and general lack of prosperity.

[@terminallygray]

@CL-mu2wk Ever seen a recent picture of Detroit neighborhoods ?? Not for the weak of heart !!

[@samanthab1923]

I remember driving to Syracuse in ‘76 to look at the school. Just a gray depressing place.

[@circleinforthecube5170]

houses were pretty well built up until the 2000s, yeah many tract homes suck but many architecturally designed lone country houses are pretty damn strong, a good reason why modern houses are "weaker" is that walls are hollowed out for electrical lines and plumbing but ive been in many 70s houses just as strong as some old 1800s ones, actually houses in the early 1900s feel a bit weaker, those cape cods dont seem as strong as a 70s shed style

[@wolfeasmr9505]

It’s interesting, I moved out of the Pennsylvania “in the rust belt” and moved to Wisconsin “still in rust belt”

[@SLHJR0390]

Those property taxes are wonderfully high in WI

[@briansteele9863]

I just moved to Cleveland from several years in Columbus, and I love it. Columbus is sterile, suburban, and expensive. Cleveland is a cool, liberal, diverse city with decent urban infrastructure and low cost of living. I also lived most of my life in the sunbelt and wouldn't go back. Excited to build a life in the rust belt.

[@life5161]

Don't invite everyone here!

[@billpike-cn5pz]

I live in Hilliard and you're not telling the truth about Columbus. You think German Village, Grandview, Clintonville, the Short North and campus aren't liberal? You think with 60,000 Somalis, 30,000 Central Americans and black population that's 30% of the city's total isn't diverse?

[@jkshitz28]

This is exactly what i needed so thank you! Was going to start researching the current mass migration in more depth. I relocated with my family to Florida!

[@theaccidentalanthropologis2743]

Outside ofthe Boston area, significant sections of the settled parts of New England have also experienced depopulation and de industrialization similar to the rust belt

[@maxpowr90]

Especially recently, it's boomers retiring south. Too expensive to be a snowbird in MA.

[@waitaminute2015]

​@@maxpowr90 of love to move back to New England, but I can't afford it. Wish I never left tbh.

[@maineeveryday796]

Never left probably never will but winter here just SAPS us financially. Heating this year is going to be a huge hurtle that most ppl just simply aren't going to be able to heat their home. I grew up with a woodstove for heat in an old farm house (I'm 32) and a lot of people who can (i.e none renters) are going back to that. Easy 500-800 a month conservatively for oil every month in the winter

[@waitaminute2015]

@@maineeveryday796 my brother is still up there and I hear him complain every winter. The thing about FL is everyone is from somewhere else. Hard to figure people out, who's who, what's what. You never see the same faces, like being a stranger everywhere you go. You have associates, but no real friendships. If you can afford to stay up there, stay.

[@maineeveryday796]

@@waitaminute2015 I know even if I can't afford it, I won't leave, I'll start sacrificing things in my life to get by. I worked and live in south Carolina doing contract work driving a dump truck hauling hurricane debris (Hurricane Matthew) for South Carolina State Tree through FEMA around the the Holidays. Every day that the holidays inched closer my home sickness grew exponentially. I met two guys from my state there surprisingly. One from Rangley the other from Augusta. The 3 of us instantaneously were brothers down their. If it wasn't for those 2 I'd have left much much sooner. We were all a piece of home away from home to eachother. Sharing stories, finding out who we knew that the other also knew. In a way it also made it tougher bc it was a constant reminder of the strong connection to the people and the land I was from. Anyways, December 22 rolled around and for about a week prior to that all I kept saying was "I think I'm leaving guys". I left and they followed suit within a week after. The 3 of us keep in touch and one of them I hangout with several times a year.

[@CoryAlbrecht]

Not all ship traffic from Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior passed through Detroit. Collingwood, Ontario, used to be a big (for the times) transshipment port for grains from the Upper Midwest. They were offloaded from ships into the many and large grain silos that used to exist there, and then loaded on a train and sent to Quebec City, where they would put back on a ship and get sent to England. Some of the mineral ores also passed through calling but as well, and not solely through Detroit as that one map showed.

[@lisapop5219]

I will add, not only black southerners moved north. Lots of poor white share croppers and subsistence farmers did too.

[@jakewilson7112]

Michigan here, what you say is true, bu grossly ignores that 75% were black folks with no education. They were hard working people, unlike their offspring who have grown up existing on handouts.

[@warrenlewis3977]

About 100 years ago.

[@wellston2826]

I well remember the begining of the depopulation of the Rust Belt. There was a bumper sticker/catch phrase going around that went "Will the last person leaving Michigan please turn off the lights." The destination of choice at that time (early 1980's) seemed to be Texas. Glad to see your channel growing so well, you are doing a fine job.

[@beasley1232]

That should be said for Illinois, we are one of 4 states to lose population in the last decade the other 4 being Mississippi, West Virginia and California

[@shawnk7720]

yours was the rust belt ours was the majorr cities exodus' every generation has big ones. Isn't that interesting though?

[@crustyrash]

I remember “Mistake on the Lake” being used by folks from Buffalo/NF to describe Cleveland. Funny b/c while the Cuyahoga River was catching on fire Love Canal came to the forefront.

[@wellston2826]

@@crustyrash Yes,

[@emilyjones5830]

Texas, you mean Northern Mexico.

[@larryfromwisconsin9970]

I'm from Superior, Wisconsin which is slowly losing population since World War II. I left after graduating high school in 1972 but tried moving back in 1998. It's really cold! And the people that remained there aren't friendly to outsiders. They considered me an outsider because I didn't live there for 25 years. We moved to Tennessee first but they have winter too albeit mild It's winter nonetheless. We're retired in Southwestern Texas now. We're freezing at 50 degrees.

[@brianhenderson9470]

Grew up in Erie, Pa. Was there a few years back for a reunion and was shocked at the decline of the quality of life .

[@JF-xq6fr]

I'm one county south and it is so depressing; the whole area actually. So much natural beauty, but the miserable, backward-ass, apathetic angry people make living here unbearable.

[@ripHalo0002]

Looking forward to your great migration video!

[@yesid17]

great video as always!! looking forward to the two videos you teased-the sunbelt and great migrations-would also be interested in a similar one for the indigenous nations of north america since 1600-I know it's a much longer time period and involving a lot more people groups over a much bigger area, but people really only know about the trail of tears when in reality many indigenous nations experienced attempted ethnic cleansing/genocide-from enslavement and exportation from the 13 colonies (mostly New England and SC) to the caribbean and europe during the earliest part of the slave trade, to the navajo long walk, to the comanche, kiowa, lakota, shawnee, and haudenosaunee expansions, to the kickapoo and seminole migrations to Mexico, to the modoc and klamath POW detention in Oklahoma, to the California genocide, to the Indigenous people of my birthplace in NJ, the lenape, being pushed to Ontario, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma-I know it's a long and painful story in many cases but I think it's an important and interesting one too and I would love to see you share that story on your platform-in any case keep up the great work!

[@terminallygray]

Hello Carter. I understand your hopeful and optimistic point of view. I hope that things DO CHANGE for the rust belt FOR THE BETTER !! Unfortunately..... I've heard this story before MANY TIMES OVER. It's a very sad tale and hits home like a sack of big rocks (i live in Ohio, not too far from Pittsburg). I don't know what's going to happen in the future but I am very familiar with the Rust Belt's recent past. I have lived through IT ALL !! Those pictures are very accurate of things as they are now. Things have to change sooner or later. I hope you get to witness it because I never have.

[@SU1C1D3xPR4D4]

As a Detroiter it’s just loss of manufacturing jobs (GM employed 80k people in Flint at one point, now flint has 80k total citizens!), crime (huge one), and also weather. If you don’t need to live in the snowy Midwest where it’s frozen or near frozen for 6 months, you won’t.

[@himbourbanist]

Crime is a symptom of larger issues - economic / civil disinvestment often leads to poverty, which leads to crime. Also weather really isn't a great determining factor in who will move where. Look at large Canadian cities that have been growing steadily for decades that are even further North.

[@levitatingoctahedron922]

@@himbourbanist crime is a symptom of demographics. violent crime statistics for african americans resemble african countries, for white americans they resemble european countries. everyone is not magically the same, however much people want to pretend to avoid hurting peoples feelings.

[@ronhoover5516]

I'm one of the crazy ones but I love the freezing weather and the change of seasons here in Ohio. Happy to live around other people who are as crazy (or crazier) than me. Been to Florida-yes it is beautiful-but it's a tourist wasteland to me.

[@MichiganUSASingaporeSEAsia]

Yes Flint was a disaster due to the hiring of a southern CEO.. Correction. Detroit’s population did not go south. They went to the suburbs due to the new ongoing built super highways.) Detroit homes are old and the suburbs has new homes, streets with much yard space. You never mentioned that Detroit was the riches city in the USA back in 1950s so therefore people could afford to relocate to newer neighborhoods, ( (now Detroits suburbs are some of the wealthiest in the USA. )) Detroit has recently revitalized and reinvented itself and the people are returning, slowly but surely. More diversity is returning too. Detroit is also building a new skyscraper and largest suspension bridge in the USA. Too add, Ford will be opening up the former train station which will be state of the art EV coined as the brain station to rival Silicon Valley… Lastly, many of California population growth came from Asia and South America. It wasn’t that Americans were moving h the eir from the Midwest. To add, California is currently the fastest shrinking state in the USA with the most bankrupt cities in the USA too. If it wasn’t with the foreigners still immigrating to California, it would be even worse today…

[@himbourbanist]

I'm pretty optimistic for the future of the Rust Belt as a whole. Nowadays cities like Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Buffalo are all very affordable to live in, have great public transportation, and incredible legacy density and infrastructure. As the Sun Belt continues to grow more and more expensive, and as water shortages in the Southwest continue to get more and more extreme, it will likely start repelling a lot of potential migrants back towards the Midwest and East Coast cities where it's still cheaper to live (Philadelphia and Baltimore in particular). Couple that with Remote work on the rise and suddenly you can take your middle-class wage remote tech job and live in a skyrise in Chicago instead of a sweltering and expensive car-dependent suburb of Austin.

[@LTS720]

Chicago aint cheap bruh

[@toolwithintention]

I’d take Austin over Chicago, 9 days a week

[@Jeschitown]

​@@toolwithintentiondear God no Austin is a terrible boring city

[@toolwithintention]

@@Jeschitown thank God Out will help to keep others from going there

[@chucke756]

Not sure about people going back to Philadelphia and Baltimore with all the crime and criminal politicians!! 😂

[@velozio]

Amazing video, really informative content! The topic of migration has always fascinated me including that of internal migration in the US so it’s really interesting to learn more about this. I would really love to see more of this series. P.S: I’ve been to Pittsburgh right before the pandemic and I gotta say it was a pretty cool experience, and the place itself was fairly clean. I live in a former steel city myself so we have somewhat similar histories (although I confess I know wayyy less about my region’s history than I should)

[@alansnyder8448]

I left the Midwest in 1990 for work. I've lived in Texas and California since then. Now that I'll be retiring soon, I'm going return to the Midwest to buy 3-5 acres to build my retirement home and get back to the nice people of the Midwest. I would never have left if there were jobs here.

[@moneylust]

Ironically, because of those exodus out of rust belt & Midwest certain places of Midwest like, Columbus, OH; Chicao,IL; Mdison, WI & Dayton, OH as well as Des Moine, IA & Omaha, NE are great place to reside with limited budget.

[@chucke756]

I grew up on the east coast in South Jersey. I moved to the Midwest about 25 years ago in the KC area. I like it we don’t have the beaches or mountains but travel these days is fairly easy.

[@circleinforthecube5170]

@@chucke756 theres pretty good beaches in michigan, the sand dunes are a unique type

[@chucke756]

@@circleinforthecube5170 I’ve never been to MI but I heard it’s really awesome in the summer. I’m getting too old for cold weather. 😂

[@josephhoover4542]

If you think Dayton is a good place to live then you don’t know what ur talking about that place is infested with drgs,crime,and poverty. At one point it had the highest drug od rate in the entire country and it’s poverty rate is over double the national average.

[@gewber4045]

Im in the rust belt, my family name translates to metalworker and currently working in that field. Feels good

[@greywolf845]

So glad we got a video!

[@maisonspence]

My parents, mainly my dad, grew up in northern Indiana in the 70s-90s and the decrease in population and lack of job opportunities essentially forced my parents to leave the state. We recently actually moved back to Indiana and surprisingly the town my parents grew up in is actually doing pretty well now but it is really sad to drive around a majority of the state and see the constant state of decay it’s in.

[@kahlforpresident9843]

Bringing Some Buffalove for a great Show!! Great, Informative, with Awesome maps ;)

[@AdaptiveApeHybrid]

Garbage plate gang represent

[@matthewconstantine5015]

I grew up in Maine, which went through a similar thing, albeit on a much smaller and hyper-localized scale, a couple generations earlier. It had been a booming area in the 1800s, but around the turn of the 20th century, things began to decline. Textiles, wood, paper, bricks, and potatoes all started being produced elsewhere, cheaper and easier. My hometown had a boost in the War & post-War years because of a sizable military base, but even it shut down by the late 1960s. So, the various industries and the industries that supported them, began to die. It took a long time. More than a hundred years. I believe the very last paper mill in Maine finally closed this year. Growing up what equates to the ruins of these industries was weird. There was always a sense of dissipation, of a slow (sometimes not so slow) decline. Maine is the oldest state (demographically) in the country, and that's something I remember a lot from my childhood. So. Many. Old. People. And they all waxed poetic about how things "used to be." The last industry left is fishing, and of course, things aren't going super well on that front. Automation, climate change & overfishing, not to mention hyper-inflated housing costs, are making it a less & less viable option for young folks to go into. I mention all of this because I think there's a lesson to be learned from Maine that Maine never learned, but maybe some of these Rust Belt cities still can. All through the 20th Century, no matter how clear the future (or lack thereof) of Maine's industries was broadcast loud & clear, folks refused to accept that change was coming, was happening. Even in the 90s, when there were only a handful of papermills left and paper demand going down with the rise of computers, people in mill communities were still sure that demand would come back. I can't tell you how many times I heard some variation of "my dad worked in the mill. His dad worked in the mill. I'll work in the mill." And then the mill closed, and nobody had any backup plan. I see the exact same thing happening in West Virginia with Coal. Folks are still sure it's coming back. But it's never coming back. As you say near the end of the video, with climate change ramping up its effects & housing costs skyrocketing in a lot of places, I think the Rust Belt could see a resurgence. Economic diversification, light manufacturing, and passenger train reconnection could make a huge difference. I started looking seriously at Pittsburg myself, but its lack of train connection to the Northeast Corridor (like one train a day or something?) made it a nonstarter. Revitalizing downtown areas by reducing cars, attracting young people, incentivizing local businesses, and keeping rents low, could be a formula for improving the region economically. Just understanding that change happens, has happened, and will continue to happen, and that if a community doesn't deal with that, it will die, is a move in the right direction.

[@Stapleton42]

I am also Pittsburgh area born and raised. Now I live in North Carolina. I had no problem with Pittsburgh but I wanted to have a career in auto racing/car stuff. Pittsburgh isn't a good place to do that so I had to leave. There are a lot of people with Pennsylvania plates in the Lake Norman NC area

[@mannymarotta]

As a fellow Pittsburgher, I really appreciate this video and I found it informative

[@liptonwitch]

I live in middle TN, but my family's from Elkhart, IN and Ik so many ppl down here who are also from the Elkhart-Goshen area.

[@erichimes3062]

Elkhart native/resident here; the RV & manufacturing makes it one of the highest GDP in the state (by statistical area). The pharmaceutical companies took the durable upper middle class jobs with them when they left and in its place, are hillbillies cranking out campers with their stars&bars flags on their trucks in the factory parking lot.

[@KyleLeHeup]

Seems like everyone in the rust belt is moving to Tennessee

[@liptonwitch]

@@KyleLeHeup Idk why personally. There isn't much to do around here, and a lot of places in TN are transforming into the rust belt too. Not to mention the AWFUL sales tax. I don't even care about no income tax when I get robbed every time I get groceries every week. Although, there IS nothing to Indiana either. Especially how my dad described it. Although, nowhere was as bad as Western MI where he's from.

[@allenschmitz9644]

They found jesus?@@KyleLeHeup

[@ryanprosper88]

As a Canadian, I've often wondered how Ontario's population would have faired if it weren't part of a different country than Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and others. Our population is rising towards 15 million, but until the industrial economy collapsed, Ontario's population trailed Michigan and Ohio by a significant margin. Industrialization was an anomaly to the Great Lakes region. It was not a natural development like agriculture is. I think the future of these states lies in their agricultural, natural resources, and tourism industries. Industrial jobs are developing further south, closer to Mexico, and where the population is really booming. Agriculture doesn't rely on labour like it used to, so Ohio could significantly improve on this front. Michigan has a huge coastline perfect for tourism, and has good farmland in the south. It also has plenty of forests so could have a good natural resources industry.

[@dogownrpenna]

Shhhh...... Pittsburgh is mostly affordable. Don't tell anyone.

[@beasley1232]

These states actually heavily rely on their industry’s, they always have that’s why when these industry’s started leaving for other states like California, Texas, Florida, Washington or Georgia it dramatically hurt and affected all northern state’s economy’s. Illinois the 6th most populous state with 12.9 million people and 80% of those people live in Chicago OR its suburbs. Illinois also has 1.0 trillion dollars making it the 5th biggest GDP in the nation, and nearly 80% of that (or over 800 billion dollars) comes from Chicago ALONE. Chicago is still the 3rd most populous city AND one of THE richest cities in the world and the 2nd in the USA only behind New York City

[@RobMunoz0812]

Two words: harsh winters

[@Alex_Plante]

I`m from Montreal, and have always been interested in economic geography and history. If you map the industrial and agricultural heartlands of North America, they overlap. The agricultural heartland starts at the Appalachians and goes west to the first two tiers of states west of the Mississippi, and from the Ohio river north to the limits of the Canadian shield. The historic industrial heartland overlaps with the eastern half of the agricultural heartland, but goes east to the Atlantic coast. Southern Ontario, if you draw a line from about Georgian Bay to the Bay pf Quinte, is part of both the North American industrial and agricultural heartlands. If Southern Ontrario didn't turn into a rust belt, like the neighbouring US states, it`s largely because of the relatively cheap value of the Canadian dollar, which points to one of the major factors in the decline of US industry since 1980: a strong dollar policy.

[@TheSmokinApples]

Your input is appreciated. Indeed, Ontario's strategic geographical location within North America has been pivotal to its success. Much like Switzerland, Ontario has adeptly harnessed differences in tax structures, regulatory frameworks, and currency dynamics to fortify its industrial strength and resilience. Additionally, the province's proactive approach to immigration has emerged as a significant boon, playing a pivotal role in enhancing its overall prosperity. One notable area for improvement in this region, aside from addressing the issue of affordable housing, is the development of a more comprehensive public transportation system. This would be particularly valuable in establishing robust connectivity between Toronto and its surrounding satellite cities, akin to the integrated metropolitan transportation systems seen in cities such as New York City with the MTA, LIIR, and Metro North. I really like to see the Metropolitan Transportation Systems would be consolidated into one entity rather than just several with better boost in multi-state support. (Looking at you New Jersey and Connecticut freeloaders)

[@craigbenz4835]

I moved from the rust belt to Florida in the '80s, but moved back in the 90's in part because of concerns about freshwater supplies.

[@crustyrash]

Aaaah, freshwater. I believe the Great Lakes region will become a population center once again b/c of the fresh water. I look at places in the sunbelt (e.g., Las Vegas) that are popular and wonder how much growth they can sustain.

[@MC_aigorithm]

you could probably do an excellent video in this series about the impact of suburbanization itself on the entire US. Keep up the excellent work bud

[@birbluv9595]

Excellent video. I look forward to your upcoming documentaries.

[@6thface]

NAFTA and CAFTA happened. Union busting happened.

[@lukasjay1783]

I'm a big TII fan! I just moved to Oklahoma. and there's a crazy amount of out of place geography and buildings throughout this whole state. I'll often stop and be like "How does it make any sense that this is here?"

[@susanaltman5134]

Pittsburgh is a great city to visit. I really enjoyed my vacation there.

[@ronhoover5516]

PIttsburgh rocks! A very underrated city.

[@captainlongjohnson9743]

I’m thinking about moving there from the south but problem is I’m a white dude that usually rocks my gold chain and drive around bumping loud hiphop music I’m kinda afraid that I might not fit in.

[@kevinakakp9120]

If not for the snow the Great Lakes region would not be a bad region, I still live here in Michigan and am just used to it. My outdoor work as a shipping and receiving local truck driver is tolerable up here, but it would be unbearable for me in the south with 4 months long extreme heat. I lived around Atlanta back in 2012-2013 and it was extremely hot those summers, and It was just tad bit to much, although the winter months were perfect. Basically I don’t mind the north until I get old I guess and the cold starts bothering my bones

[@cratecruncher4974]

What's truly interesting to me is that the "rust belt" is now considered by experts on the subject one of the safest places to be in the coming decades of dramatic global warming. The worst place to be is Phoenix, Dallas, Miami, or Los Angeles. Having experienced 60 straight days of 108 F temps in Central Texas this summer I'm looking at PA, MI, and OH to live out my life!

[@sdrc92126]

Half my friends in Phoenix moved there from Michigan or Ohio. Probably more than half. I remember sitting in the library one day with about 10 people and everyone was comparing notes and sharing stories from back home 🤣 Maricopa county has been the fastest growing areas in the US for decades, despite weeks straight of 115F daily temps and 102F nighttime temps. I hate it, but my elderly parents love it, especially now that they have AC. They lived there their whole lives and didn't ave AC until the mid 90's.

[@TheAnnoyingBoss]

Oh youre one of the carbonphobic bigots. Is the reagon also tolerant towards putting my children on puberty blockere too?

[@allenschmitz9644]

Col. Oh. had a dream summer this year...lol'.

[@jjoohhhnn]

​@@TheAnnoyingBosslmfao. Puberty blockers have been a normal thing to prescribe for decades, you just don't know what you're talking about. Because you watch rage pron.

[@craigemmett2425]

Yes. This August and September in central Texas broke me. Hibernation with AC has become unbearable.

[@raphcest8408]

impressive lecture on the phenomenon of urbanization and de-urbanization in the USA. Hats off to you!

[@StLouis-yu9iz]

I can’t believe you didn’t discuss StL more in this video. While we are older than the other Rust Belt cities; we’ve lost about 2/3 of our population as well.

[@kahlforpresident9843]

cuz yall aint quite rust belt...

[@teejin669]

​@@kahlforpresident9843we are included some of the time in rust belt. We used to be a massive city connected to the west of the great lakes region so I would say that counts as rust belt but thays my opinion

[@teejin669]

@@kahlforpresident9843 hell, even mentions St. Louis as a honorable mention of the rust belt in the video

[@sotch2271]

Its in another zone, another rust belt, but a southern one so maybe its different from different reason or idk

[@Niko-777]

St. Louis auto industry (Chrysler) was hit hard in the late 70’s, early 80’s. The layoffs were total hell for my family. My dad worked 3 horrible jobs simultaneously for 3 years until he got called back and the financial stress on my parents of 5 children was off the charts. Everyone in the family worked. We had to. I worked my way through college and took out huge loans, but was limited to an in-state school. When things fall apart you don’t have the luxury of following your dreams and developing your natural talents, which I think is the most crushing loss. Gifted children are forced into careers based solely on future earning potential, even if it destroys their spirit. I paid off all my loans, everything, without help or shelter from my parents. It’s why I can’t tolerate the spoiled entitled attitudes of kids today. I wish they understood what it means to truly have zero help from family and to be kicked out at 18 and told to survive, because they’re so depressed from years of financial stress they can’t think straight. It’s a miracle I survived, but I’m still traumatized by the experience. I graduated college during the 80’s recession and accepted crappy job in order to pay back my student loans and buy a car. My debt was far more than my salary, but I was debt free in 4 years. I have no idea why kids now think the world owes them a high paying job after school. There are no guarantees. They need to learn self reliance. The video brought it all back, that’s how good it is. Please continue following your dreams.

[@redcomic619]

It’s such a tragedy what’s happened to our great American cities. The Rust Belt deserves the prosperity the Sunbelt’s soulless sprawling cities are enjoying today.

[@HighpointerGeocacher]

I greatly prefer suburbs over dense urban living.

[@redcomic619]

@@HighpointerGeocacher Good for you. I grew up in the urban rust belt and now live in a sunbelt suburb. I hate it. The only reason I live here is because of safety and economics. I wish they’d stop electing Dems up north so I could go back home. So sick of rotting in traffic for 45 mins each way to work, living around nothing but highways, strip malls and chain restaurants in this polluted hell hole. City life is far superior. If crime and homelessness didn’t exist I’d go back in a heartbeat.

[@shrishri8898]

Indians should go backn

[@LeDank]

I left Ohio because of the stagnant economy. It’s a depressing place to be even if you work remote. Just driving between cities gives you views of abject poverty and decay you’d expect to see in Eastern Europe, not the USA. But it’s there.

[@rdallas81]

It's everywhere in the USA

[@ronhoover5516]

There are those areas, yes, but there are some very nice areas in Ohio too. I'm in NE Ohio and there are many well-off communities near me. It's a pretty broad mix depending on where you are in NE Ohio, sometimes with the good and bad areas only miles apart.

[@killval849]

I moved from upstate NY to Houston Texas, and man it made my life significantly better.

[@DakotaofRaptors]

Was it because of the Tex-Mex?

[@nobullshoot]

graduated high school 1979, Toledo Oh. the beginning of the gutting of American manufacturing. the great double recession of the early 80’ - a depression in the rust belt. I watched the automotive, railroad, shipyards, steel mills all closing. We were scarified to the leftist wealth distribution to the third world and the corporate greed of republicans to seek low cost production after the leftist unions UAW ate into profits too much. I have friends that retired with full GM retirement at age 48! Including medical. Went to college and got caught in the 92’ IT recession where the out sourcing to India started of programming and IT high paying jobs. Globalization is a mother! I have to compete with everyone in the world all pouring into America and with the low pay in India and China.

[@nobullshoot]

Damn you are right, prez from 81 to 89 he owned the 80's . @AM-uh7mv

[@jeanlanz2344]

You are ingenious and present complex material from many sources well in a calm, orderly way. Thank you and God bless you.

[@23uncbball]

Considering the so called rust belt has the majority of the north american water supply and the southwest is running out, i still think they are gonna win the long game in american regions. Better policies and infrastructure can make the great lakes a new giant in the 21st century.

[@uvhciM]

This was a solid basic summary of things - good work. Interestingly, Detroit is now officially in growth again for the first time in more than six decades. While the work remaining is huge, it seems like city on one page now in terms of being committed to improving, and I don't think I've ever seen any place that was so far gone for so many decades improve so fast as it has over the last 10 years, and pull it off on such a small budget. It really is impressive to watch.

[@Worldaffairslover]

Pittsburgh is on the rise, it’s a great city. A lot of them probably moved to Columbus

[@crustyrash]

Pittsburgh is an awesome city.

[@leorkoubi4626]

easily the best channel on the US

[@wecx2375]

My family left Chicago for cali

[@edwardwong654]

This was done very interestingly and respectfully. Thanks.

[@Zericef]

As someone from Northern Indiana, we still have many great manufacturing towns, great places to live with great jobs, and very affordable costs of living. I think during this cost of living crisis we are entering, the rust belt is extremely underrated. The small towns are where it's at.

[@karlosramz9748]

I’m from the Warsaw, IN area and THIS IS FALSE. There are NO JOBS. And the small towns are the worst.

[@Zericef]

@@karlosramz9748 Yet one could go 25-30 miles North of Warsaw and find plenty of manufacturing jobs, the basis of Indiana's economy, that pay well, and are hiring.

[@Zericef]

@@karlosramz9748 Also, Warsaw is a pretty attractive small town for the most part. I've been plenty. You've got 3 lakes of good size, Winona lake trails, and other nature spots.

[@karlosramz9748]

@@Zericef right which die in winter and so does the local economy.

[@karlosramz9748]

@@Zericef and Warsaw is also a very ugly town with no active town center.

[@robschaffnit7457]

A good briefing on the rust belt and its demise and potential come back : Our family moved out of the Pittsburgh area in 1985 as my father got a job in Northern Utah in the aerospace engineering industry with Thiokol : From which I later moved to Coeur D Alene ; a resort town in North Idaho .

[@warriorson7979]

Scranton has an extremely dynamic paper selling industry.

[@junkman7426]

Greetings from Detroit! Great video. I think you summed it up well. I'm happy I get to live in the era of post industrial stabilization of the once mighty rust belt towns. I really do love this region, and most people when they visit seem pleasantly surprised.

[@ronhoover5516]

It's turning around but it's going to take some time.

[@MichiganUSASingaporeSEAsia]

Correction. Detroit’s population did not go south. They went to the suburbs due to the new ongoing built super highways.) Detroit homes are old and the suburbs has new homes, streets with much yard space. You never mentioned that Detroit was the riches city in the USA back in 1950s so therefore people could afford to relocate to newer neighborhoods, ( (now Detroits suburbs are some of the wealthiest in the USA. )) Detroit has recently revitalized and reinvented itself and the people are returning, slowly but surely. More diversity is returning too. Detroit is also building a new skyscraper and largest suspension bridge in the USA. Too add, Ford will be opening up the former train station which will be state of the art EV coined as the brain station to rival Silicon Valley… Lastly, many of California population growth came from Asia and South America. It wasn’t that Americans were moving h the eir from the Midwest. To add, California is currently the fastest shrinking state in the USA with the most bankrupt cities in the USA too. If it wasn’t with the foreigners still immigrating to California, it would be even worse today…Nice profile pic by the way

[@CountZacula77]

Amazing series, listening to this as I bike through the fertile plains of southern lake Ontario, near the Welland canal. Interesting that the same region here in Canada did not see the same decline.

[@Fossillarson]

My grandparents purchased property in arkansas back in 50s then moved down in 80s to a 74 built summer home. In 92 built house on the property pusched back in 50s.. retirement hooked them army guys in ft Smith 😅

[@Sacto1654]

In fact, the very presence of plentiful fresh water from the Great Lakes could drive a major resurgence of population growth as much of the southwestern USA is abandoned due to the lack of fresh water. Las Vegas, NV and Phoenix, AZ could see a sudden huge decline in population as both cities are heavily abandoned due to water issues.

[@AdaptiveApeHybrid]

The climate is gonna stay milder for longer here too

[@erichimes3062]

South Bend/Elkhart area of northern Indiana have had mix of experiences: South Bend lost Studebaker, which was a huge loss. Elkhart has drastic ups and downs when the RV industry ebbs and flows, but has maintained a strong manufacturing base, even after the Exodus of pharmaceutical industries in the 80s and 90s.

[@beasley1232]

Watching the decline of Illinois as an Illinoisan is actually heartbreaking 💔

[@richardhanes7370]

Illinois is only going to get worse. While the rest of the rust belt gets better

[@beasley1232]

@@richardhanes7370 Illinois has 1.0 trillion dollars and a population of 12.7 million people, we have one of the most diverse economies in the entire world, Illinois struggles is not limited to the state and isn’t a state phenomenon. The same struggles Illinois faces can be found all over California, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Mississippi, Alabama etc etc.

[@dryiceVEVO]

I Agree, Just Moved To *Georgia* 😢

[@jakewilson7112]

those selling your land to their Chinese masters will claim everything is looking up.

[@faheemabbas3965]

You get what you vote for. Don’t make the mistake of voting for the same policies after you move out.

[@willaimhiggins5428]

The county I live in has been hit hard with job losses. June 1981, 5,000 laid off in one week at a plant, 8,000 jobs lost when Ford closes van plant. Thousands and thousands of jobs lost in two cities and many, many small and medium plants closed down, assembly plants and chemical plants alike,contributed to people leaving those cities.

[@jnsnj1]

Thanks for the South Jersey mention. I had a conversation last week with someone about how the economics of counties along the Delaware bay are more similar to the Midwest than the rest of the mid Atlantic.

[@southerncoyote]

Interesting to look at this in relation to the many arbitrary parking minimums that made smaller businesses much more costly to run

[@jstoli996c4s]

Buffalo took a big hit, and is now slowly revitalizing over the last 10 years. Will probably take another 20 to fully regain its former glory. #buffalove

[@p.d.stanhope7088]

Originally from Western Pennsylvania and lived in Washington DC, New York City and now in Miami, FL. Left Pennsylvania in 1995 and still have only 2 siblings living there.

[@JaCrispy3060]

Michigang here. At least our state managed to hit the ten million mark lol. Oh well. Less people means more room to enjoy the beautiful outdoors. Rust be damned. Screw the sunbelt!

[@glennso47]

But screw your governor and screw the governor of Illinois (Pritzker Sucks the life out of Illinois)

[@woodsmonkey2265]

I've always been fascinated with this subject. I was born in Pittsburgh PA and live an hour north. I work in a steel mill in butler pa along with 1200 other union workers. The small town I live in depends on the mill to survive. I hope that it lasts. I have 25 years till I can retire with a full pension. I've talked to my wife tho, if the mill shuts down we are probably moving south where there are jobs

[@nothingelse1520]

I moved to Pittsburgh, got a great job making more then I did back home. Never regretted it once.

[@danielfrancella5219]

Me too. I moved to Pittsburgh from Metro DC. Cost of living is cheaper and I make more than I ever did. I moved to Pittsburgh in 2016.

[@rdallas81]

Good for you two! There are opportunities in many places. Jobs everywhere.. Potential to make money is around.

[@Vonne-cw5wf]

Video was extremely well done - organization, depth of information, flow of topics, narration et al. Great job! Viewers need more of this type of information presentation, less of politics and silly gimmicks (and unfortunately, too often, crude language). Keep up the good work -

[@evillink1]

Holy smokes, only 300K? I thought Pittsburgh was bigger.

[@craigbenz4835]

It was.

[@allenschmitz9644]

traffic held them up.

[@circleinforthecube5170]

its the mountains effect with the skyscrapers, its a very aesthethically appealing city thought i thought pittsburgh was bigger than detroit tbh

[@alexsandrarokas7117]

I was born and raised in Detroit. Then I moved to a small suburb north of the city. I will not abandon Detroit because I know it will come back. What worries me is I don’t want anyone else from different parts of America relocating here. Our lakes are shared with Canada and I happen to like our Canadian neighbors. I don’t want those who abandoned us during hard times to come back and milk out our natural resources. Stay where you are and don’t come back. You left us now you stay in your chosen hell.

[@The55nomad]

Don't have to watch video to know it's all about jobs and financial security. That's what brought people there in the first place.

[@tengoindiamike]

Where is the sun belt video in this series? I really liked this video. Having grown up and spent my whole life in metro Detroit I can relate to a lot of this