According to Forbes, 10 million Americans moved in 2008.

And while we know blanket facts like “the city of Atlanta is growing in population”, it’s difficult to get a sense of where these folks are coming from.  Also, what about the much-less-discussed people leaving the city?  Where are they inclined to move?

Luckily Forbes magazine has created a great, new interactive map that shows the in and out-migration patterns for every county in the country.  Above is the map for Fulton County, representing “Atlanta”.  Check out that Northeast/Rust Belt/Florida in-migration!

And who knew that most people who left Atlanta went decidedly west?   (Also note the thick red line indicating outward migration down to New Orleans from Atlanta.)

And if you think Atlanta is fascinating, check out Manhattan, Seattle and Dallas.  Or any other county in the U.S. that strikes your fancy!

Just don’t miss Detroit.  It’s a visual bloodbath.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle reported on this latest Forbes ranking yesterday, but I didn’t bite because honestly I’m getting a little tired with these things.  But hey, when your city ranks as #1 most toxic in the country, I guess that’s worth mentioning, right?

However, Atlanta could have never achieved such an elevated position without the help of a few neighbors.  From the Forbes article…

Crowded urban areas are often thought of as the most polluted, but the latter isn’t always caused by the former. While the Atlanta metro area takes top honors for toxicity, don’t blame the city alone. The Atlanta metro includes the cities of Sandy Springs and Marietta, the sites of chemical plants, metal coaters and concrete factories. The cities have toxic-release levels equal at or higher than those Atlanta, in spite of populations that are 15% and 13% the size of Atlanta’s, respectively.

“Hey you kids!  Get off my lawn!   No, seriously get off the lawn…that soil will melt your sneakers!”

Thanks to Eric for bringing this back onto my radar.

The very latest among Forbes’ overwhelming flood of city rankers is this surprise “win” for Atlanta:  “Most-Recession-Proof City for Retirees”! Their reasoning?

“Our list, compiled by crunching seven sets of statistics from sunny days to median home price, reveals that Atlanta has many trends working in its favor–low cost of living, plenty of sun and housing that is affordable and projected to rise in value over the next five years.”

Of course, once you can no longer operate a vehicle it’s near impossible to obtain groceries or anything else in most parts of this city, but hey, getting your daily dose of Vitamin D is important too.