Many New Jersey residents, including Polish immigrants, are now moving to other states.

According to a Rutgers University report, New Jersey takes the fourth spot in terms of the numbers of people leaving the state for good. In 2006, the number of people who left the Garden State was greater than the number of new residents settling there by 72,547.

The loss of residents is having a negative impact on New Jersey’s economy. Due to the decline of the real estate tax income between 2005 and 2006, there was a decline in the state’s budget by $680 million. This happened right when New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine expressed his hope for economic improvement and a decrease in budgetary problems, thanks to real estate taxes.

Edward J. Bloustein, dean of the School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, and Professor James W. Hughes, co-authors of the Rutgers University report, claim that if this trend continues, New Jersey may lose even more residents at the very beginning of 2008.

"Our analyses indicate that there has been an increase in the numbers of people leaving New Jersey for good and heading for other states," said Professor Joseph J. Seneca, another author of the report.

According to the report, the average population increase rate for New Jersey dropped dramatically in 2002, when residents started to move to other states more frequently than residents of other states were moving to New Jersey.

Other factors influencing the state population, such as the number of births, deaths and immigration, have not changed significantly.

According to a New York Times report, mainly older people who have already retired or young families looking for better jobs and cheaper real estate are leaving the Garden State.

But where are they going? The Record said that 41 percent of New Jersey’s former residents have left for Florida, California, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Texas or Maryland. Between the years of 2000 and 2005, about 1.1 million residents left New Jersey. Of that figure, 124,584 have left for Florida; 42,459 for Pennsylvania; and 29,803 for North Carolina. Piotr Lapinski is among those who belong to the last group mentioned above.

Lapinski lived in New Jersey for 12 years. But, for him, life is much better now in North Carolina for a number of reasons: real estate prices and real estate taxes.

"Here, taxes are about one half of what they are New Jersey. The lifestyle differences are also very important. The pace of life is much slower here, and people are much nicer to each other than in the north," Lapinski said.

Also, the climate and availability of all types of recreation are contributing factors.

"The summers are not worse than the ones in New Jersey, even though they are a bit longer. We have similar temperatures and humidity here. Winters, however, are not freezing cold to the point of preventing planes from taking off. And swimming pools and tennis courts are everywhere,” Lapinski told Nowy Dziennik.

Irena, owner of a New Jersey-based cleaning company, has also noticed that many of her friends and employees are considering leaving or have already left New Jersey.

"Recently, my employee, Mirka, has done it. She just bought a house in Pennsylvania and she is very happy living there," Irena said.