Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
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Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
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Brandon DonnellyThe historic drop in US international migration
The WSJ recently published a pair of articles (here and here) talking about where the US is growing and shrinking — through charts. The three components of this are domestic migration, international migration, and births minus deaths.
One of the key themes for the year ending in June 2025 is that the country is seeing significantly less international migration. According to the WSJ, more people moved out of the US than moved in last year for the first time since the Great Depression.
The WSJ recently published a pair of articles (here and here) talking about where the US is growing and shrinking — through charts. The three components of this are domestic migration, international migration, and births minus deaths.
One of the key themes for the year ending in June 2025 is that the country is seeing significantly less international migration. According to the WSJ, more people moved out of the US than moved in last year for the first time since the Great Depression.
Support Brandon Donnelly
Brandon DonnellyThe historic drop in US international migration
Subscribe to Brandon Donnelly
Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
International migration is critical because around 65% of all counties in the US are now experiencing more deaths than births, meaning the fertility rate is declining. This is an increase from around 34% of all counties as recently as 2010.
On the domestic front, one interesting finding is that, for the first time in many years, the Midwest added more domestic migrants than it lost. As expected, the growth region for domestic migration remains the South, though it has slowed.
Also interesting is the extent to which San Francisco has rebounded. During the depths of the pandemic, things appeared dire for the city. Nobody was more untethered than tech workers, and the feeling was that they'd never return. Nope. The city has grown for the last three years.
The decline in international migrants is not unique to the US. The same thing is true in Canada. But we (Canada) remain in the business of attracting the smartest and most ambitious people from around the world. I have no clue what's going on in the US these days — it changes hour by hour — but maybe they'd like to remain in this business as well.
Cover photo by Austin Neill on Unsplash
Charts from The Wall Street Journal
International migration is critical because around 65% of all counties in the US are now experiencing more deaths than births, meaning the fertility rate is declining. This is an increase from around 34% of all counties as recently as 2010.
On the domestic front, one interesting finding is that, for the first time in many years, the Midwest added more domestic migrants than it lost. As expected, the growth region for domestic migration remains the South, though it has slowed.
Also interesting is the extent to which San Francisco has rebounded. During the depths of the pandemic, things appeared dire for the city. Nobody was more untethered than tech workers, and the feeling was that they'd never return. Nope. The city has grown for the last three years.
The decline in international migrants is not unique to the US. The same thing is true in Canada. But we (Canada) remain in the business of attracting the smartest and most ambitious people from around the world. I have no clue what's going on in the US these days — it changes hour by hour — but maybe they'd like to remain in this business as well.
Cover photo by Austin Neill on Unsplash
Charts from The Wall Street Journal
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