Cleaning The Rust!

Dayton has a very slow rebound.

The Rust is getting oiled. 

Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota are called the Rust Belt.

Cities like Dayton, Akron, Fort Wayne, Flint, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Youngstown, Gary, Racine, Milwaukee, Saginaw, Midland, Evansville, Peoria, Springfield (Illinois), St. Louis, Davenport, Toledo, Huntington, Charleston (West Virginia), Buffalo, Rochester, Binghamton, Syracuse Wheeling, Washington (Pennsylvania), Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Allentown, Altoona, Johnstown, Birmingham and Knoxville are often labeled Rust Belt cities.

Is there a possible migration wave?

The Sun Belt is being overwhelmed. People who are leaving the Rust Belt for the warmth, limited regulations and likely racism, are now being burdened with the cost of living, the deadlier weather events, unpopular politicians and buyer's remorse are now trying to return.

It is affordable for people to live in the Rust Belt. But when people are migrating back to the region, it drives up costs.

Capitalism at its worst.

The Rust Belt experienced industrial decline beginning in the 1950s and 1960s, with manufacturing peaking as a percentage of U.S. GDP in 1953 and declining incrementally in subsequent years and especially in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Demand for coal declined as industry turned to oil and natural gas, and U.S. steel was undercut by competition from Germany and Japan. High labor costs in the Rust Belt were also a factor in encouraging the region's heavy manufacturing companies to relocate to the Sun Belt or overseas or to discontinue entirely. The U.S. automotive industry also declined as consumers turned to fuel-efficient foreign-manufactured vehicles after the 1973 oil crisis raised the cost of gasoline and foreign auto manufacturers began opening factories in the U.S., which were largely not strongly unionized like the U.S. auto manufacturers in the Rust Belt. Families moved away from Rust Belt communities, leaving cities with falling tax revenues, declining infrastructure, and abandoned buildings.

Major Rust Belt cities include Baltimore, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Rochester, and St. Louis. New England was also hit hard by industrial decline, but cities closer to the East Coast, including in the metropolitan areas of Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. were able to quickly adapt by diversifying or transforming their economies, shifting to services, advanced manufacturing, and high-tech industries. 

Similarly, parts of cities otherwise unaffected by the Rust Belt declined as a result of industrial dependence; such as Gert Town in New Orleans and South Los Angeles.

Since the 1980s, presidential candidates have devoted much of their time to the economic concerns of the Rust Belt region, which includes several populous swing states, including Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. These states were crucial to Republican Donald Trump's victories in the 2016 and 2024 presidential elections.