More anecdotally, have you ever visited a city and felt a sense of stagnation and decline? For me, that feeling is more common in a city that is losing residents rather than gaining them. There seem to be fewer and less diverse restaurants, theaters, even street musicians. In contrast, the most exciting states, cities and neighborhoods have lots of new venues and new people. Over the last decade the three fastest growing states, in percentage terms, are Utah, Idaho and Texas. I’ve recently visited the latter two and felt a palpable sense of excitement and ambition.

he asked the man at the gate, "what should I expect from this city?"

"Well, what was your last city like?", he replied