It’s Thanksgiving week which reminds me of something I’ve talked about on radio but want to share with Dominion Post readers as well. Before I get to my point, let me share some background.
I’ve discussed the West Virginia economy in the past since that affects the Real Estate market. Morgantown of course has long been in an economic bubble from the rest of the state. It was clear, however, that most of the state had been in decline for decades. There was significant population loss due to young people leaving for work, and as a result, the median age rose, but I witnessed something which truly hurt. Hundreds lost their jobs at Century Aluminum in Jackson County and to make it far worse, the retirees lost benefits as a result of the company going under. USA Today went so far as to refer to the town of Ravenswood as a ghost town.
For years, very few people actually moved ‘TO’ West Virginia. The main exceptions would be faculty at our universities, doctors and plant engineers. While that may sound decent, the population actually decreased from 2 million in 1950 to below 1.8 million recently. You might say, “Well that’s not too bad” but compare that to North Carolina. In 1950, they had 4 million people and today they have close to 11 million.
In my years here, our roads came to be in horrible shape. Salaries remained far below the national averages and state revenue was often in bad shape. Now, why am I bringing this up on Thanksgiving week?
Well, it was the day before Thanksgiving in 2015 and I was returning to WV from the city of Charlotte. As I was driving up the turnpike (I-77), I started noticing an incredible number of license plates from North & South Carolina. Then the light bulb went off in my head! These were Mountaineers returning home for the holiday! Many had relocated to the Carolinas and other states for employment, but they still had family here.
I moved from a major city to rural WV in 2002 and had a rough time finding gainful employment. The job market in most parts of the state was depressed then, but that’s changed in the last few years. We have many new manufacturing jobs which are either coming or are in place already. Nucor, Berkshire Hathaway, Timet, Mountaintop Beverage, Prime 6 and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries are just a few of the employers. We’ve seen solid progress on the Coalfields Expressway, Corridor H, US 35 and yes, the state Division of Highways has even been working on roads in Mon County the past couple of years! (imagine that!). Our population trend hasn’t reversed yet, but since remote working became popular, we’ve seen folks leave big cities for the Mountain State. We have tax advantages and outdoor recreational activities to include the New River Gorge National Park!
My point is we in WV have reason to be thankful because we’re seeing economic progress and THAT improves our Real Estate market.