Do not be fooled by wayward youngsters in Brooklyn: the younger parts of the nation are the South and West. According to Census Bureau information via Ad Age, 2.5 million people left the Northeast and 1.8 million left the Midwest between 2000 and 2009, headed to the South or the West. Restless movers and shakers that they are, the majority of these relocating folks are typically under the age of 40. People aged "25 to 34 declined 5 percent in the Northeast and 2 percent in the Midwest from 2000 to 2010, a loss of over half a million millennials," according Ad Age, while "that age cohort rose 7 percent in South and 8 percent in the West for a combined gain of 1.7 million millennials."

It's somewhat of a demographic shake-up: "consumer markets in Northeastern and Midwestern states are generally aging faster than those in the other two regions," Ad Age reports, adding that 9 out of 10 states where median age has increased fell in those two regions. The most rapidly aging states? Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. So you might not want to move there unless you're more excited about lobsters and aging hippies than you are about viable peers. And to you aging states, a cautionary word from Ad Age that reads like the warning label on a jar of vitamins: "long-term loss of millennials has dire economic consequences that may be irreversible." Do not turn your back on us. This may be the nicest sentence ever written about millennials.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at erosenberg at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Eli Rosenberg