Professionals looking to get ahead are relocating to these burgeoning areas.
In the early 1980s, Mark Remson, then a recent graduate of Humboldt State College, couldn’t find work in his major of forestry management. Newly married, Remson and his wife Sandi turned to Silicon Valley, then brimming with jobs. He landed one with Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD - news - people ), a semiconductor company that was developing a production technology called computer-aided manufacturing, or CAM. He learned semiconductor assembly and fabrication and to write and manage the software.
“And that,” Remson says, “is what I’ve been doing since.”
For nearly 30 years, Remson has been running CAM systems for semiconductor plants across the globe. From Sunnyvale, he and Sandi moved to St. Louis, where daughter Laura was born; to San Antonio, where they had Brian; to Phoenix, where Kerry was born; to Austin, Texas; to Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan. Then it was back to Austin before taking off for Singapore, New Delhi, Frisco, Texas, and, in August 2007, to Geneva, Switzerland, where Mark is a senior director at STMicroelectronics ( STM - news - people ), one of the world’s biggest semiconductor companies. In June, the company bailed out of its 1,000-employee plant in Carrollton, Texas, where Mark had his office, and asked him to start packing for another stint in Singapore.
The children call themselves “third-culture kids,” meaning they’re from everywhere and nowhere. And they, like their parents, are not alone.
Now in their early 50s, the Remsons are corporate serial movers–”Relos,” they call themselves. Relos are relocated every few years for jobs with IBM ( IBM - news - people ), General Electric ( GE - news - people ), ITT ( ITT - news - people ) and Hewlett-Packard ( HPQ - news - people ), Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD - news - people ), Intel ( INTC - news - people ), Microsoft ( MSFT - news - people ), Cisco ( CSCO - news - people ), Procter & Gamble ( PG - news - people ), Coca-Cola ( KO - news - people ), American Express ( AXP - news - people ), UPS ( UPS - news - people ), Marriott International ( MAR - news - people ) and Hilton Hotels ( HLT - news - people ), Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ - news - people ), Pfizer ( PFE - news - people ), Siemens ( SI - news - people ), Royal Dutch Shell ( RDSA - news - people ), Sony ( SNE - news - people ) and Toyota ( TM - news - people ).
At most of those companies, periodic relocation has become a well-worn track to the executive suite. Twelve of Coca-Cola’s top 19 officers and 27 of Caterpillar’s ( CAT - news - people ) 31 have been moved three or more times. W. Frederick Henderson, CEO of General Motors ( GMGMQ.PK - news - people ), has moved nine. His predecessor, Rick Wagoner moved eight. To get ahead at GE, UPS, ExxonMobil ( XOM - news - people ) and P&G, executive relocation is all but mandatory.
Between moves, Relos roost in “Relovilles” that cater largely to them–young, mid- and upscale suburbs near their companies’ plants and office parks outside Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Denver, Raleigh, Charlotte, Chicago, Washington, Indianapolis or Minneapolis. Today, Alpharetta, Ga., Huntersville, N.C., Apex, N.C., Parker, Col., and Castle Rock, Col. are among the country’s top “relovilles.”
Behind the Numbers
To locate “Relovilles” with populations of 25,000 and over, we used data from 2000 to 2007 Census records. We looked for the number of people in each town who were born out of state or abroad, who had moved to town from a considerable distance within one and five years, and who had moved for a job. These factors were weighted more heavily than others that were also considered, such as Census data for population growth, family incomes, people in executive and professional jobs, and the price, size and age of homes, along with reports of moving van companies, changes in school enrollments, the proximity of multinational companies, and the observations of local builders, government officials and residents. Places with populations of less than 25,000, with large numbers of low-wage immigrant workers and with rotating populations of college students, retirees and inmates of prisons were ruled out.
Compared with the rest of the U.S., the top 25 Relovilles that emerged from the analysis generally have twice the incomes, twice the home values and home sizes, twice the college degrees, twice as many youth and half as many elderly, twice the divorce rates and twice the numbers of residents who vote Republican. They have less than half as many blacks and more than twice as many Asians and have largely illusory historical roots–new buildings and town centers that overtake forrests and prairies.
Relovilles don’t lend themselves to crisp definition. Census takers don’t track serial movers as such. But you know when you’re in one. Like other young and affluent suburbs, they tend to boast of their “charm” and “small-town feel,” “tree-lined neighborhoods,” and “historic,” if often brand new, downtowns mimicking Savannah and Charleston. They are safe and litter-free, with shrubbery that seems sculpted from stone, with roads that curl like spaghetti through subdivisions and stopping at cul-de-sacs and shopping strips lined with the brands of familiar retail chains.
Among the resulting top 25 Relovilles, van- and SUV-choked Alpharetta ranked first. More than 70% of its residents were born somewhere other than Georgia. More than a third of the residents in 2000 had come from another state or abroad since 1995.
The last of the 25 is Plano, Texas, still the biggest Reloville and one of the oldest. But after three decades of Relo-driven growth, the city has begun to wane as a home for corporate transferees. Older, former Relos are retiring and settling down there, but the city has nearly run out of land for the new housing that appeals most to active, young Relos.
Before moving to Geneva, the Remsons lived the seventh-ranked Reloville–Frisco, Texas–immediately north of Plano. Mark’s ST was closer to Dallas in older, lower-scale Carrollton (No. 12), but he and his wife found a house they liked more 20 miles north in Frisco.
Drawbacks
There is great public indifference to community affairs in many of the country’s Relovilles. While, Relos join PTAs and coach soccer, the international sport of all Relovilles, for their kids, many don’t join other community groups, run in local elections or contribute to campaigns for community improvements. A Relo can tell you the way to the airport, but not to the city hall.
“When you come to ask them for money,” Robbie Robinson, a civic leader in Plano, said, “they know they’re not going to benefit from it, so it’s harder to get them to contribute.”
The brutal 2008-2009 recession has taken a toll on Relovilles, but not much of one. Home prices in the Relovilles around Denver, Atlanta and Charlotte have barely budged. Compared with homeowners of less Relo-oriented cities, like Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Jose, Relos earn enough and collect enough from their equity from previous homes to do without subprime mortgages.
And because Relovilles sprout where land is cheap–a major attraction for their companies too–they pay less for housing–typically less than 25% of their incomes–than they would for similar homes around, say, New York, San Francisco or Chicago. Some major employers of Relos that retrenched in the bust–such as General Motors, CitiGroup, AIG ( AIG - news - people )–have shut offices and let Relos go, and some have postponed hiring and moving them. But healthier companies that have won beachheads in Beijing, Rio and Singapore weren’t about to retreat just because the economy caught swine flu.
It’s no easier to predict where the next Alpharetta, Huntersville, or Apex will spring than it is to spot the next Apple, Microsoft or Google. Prominent new Relovilles will pop up in sleepy old towns like Castle Rock, Col., and Gaithersburg, Md., and others in desolate prairies like Frisco and Flower Mound, outside Dallas. They will sprout from just about anywhere with cheap land, exits off Interstate highways and an international airport providing quick access to the global economy.
But likely contenders include those just behind the top 25 in the Reloville weightings. They are Duluth, Ga., Colorado Springs, Colo., Gilbert, Ariz., Oakton, Va., Sugar Land, Texas, Carmel, Ind., Issaqua, Wash., Chandler, Ariz., Fort Collins, Col., Bentonville, Ark., Wildwood, Mo., Lake Ridge, Va., Chantilly, Va., Olathe, Kan., Corinth, Texas, Sammamish, Wash., Southlake, Texas, Germantown, Md., Coppel, Texas, Leawood, Kan., Brentwood, Tenn., Wyndham, Va., Ellicott City, Md., Eden Prairie, Minn., and Naperville, Ill.
Jason L. Joseph-Realtor/Real Estate Agent
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