Vacation Rentals to Blame?

The housing market feels like it hasn’t been “normal” since 2019, and it doesn’t look like it will be again for some time. Many factors are affecting the market, like low mortgage rates in 2021, high rates now in late 2023 and a lack of inventory compared to the...

Haunted Cities in America

It’s almost Halloween, and that got us thinking. Where are the most haunted cities in America located? There are some obvious answers here. Of course, Salem, Massachusetts, home of the of the witch trials in the 1600’s, probably jumps to the front of your mind. Or...

The Decline of Public School Enrollment

Around 56.8 million kids return to school this month to attend grades 1-12, and nearly 6.5 million of them won’t be attending the local public school. In the last few years, private school enrollment has increased for various reasons, but it isn’t an equal increase...

Decentralizing Government

The share of total employment in the United States accounted for by government agencies (both national and local) has grown substantially since the beginning of World War II. In 1948, governments employed about 4.5 million workers – or 7.5% of the labor force (St....

Aging Population and Migration

Over the past several decades, the median age of the population has been steadily rising from 29.3 in 1980 to 37.8 in 2023. People are waiting longer to start families and having fewer children. The impacts of this are well known: the stress on Social Security and...

2023 Car Market Demographics

If you are in the market for a car, or have been in the last few years, you know that buying or leasing a vehicle these days comes at a steep cost. In fact, new car prices are up 24% since the start of the pandemic. What does that mean? We are holding onto our cars...