Between 2011 and 2015, an astounding 952,000 people moved out of New York City—and another 265,000 New Yorkers died. At that rate, it would take just 35 years for the nation’s largest city to be left to the rats.
Fortunately, more than a million people arrived in New York during those five years—babies, immigrants, dreamers from around the country.
Think of those numbers every time you hear about the supposed pandemic exodus afflicting American cities. New Yorkers leave; New Yorkers arrive. New Yorkers die; New Yorkers are born. The churn is constant, not just there but in every city. Like the ship of Theseus, the city retains its identity even as its residents turn over, and over, and over.
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