Costly New York leads US population drain

New York may attract people from all over the world, but for the second decade in a row, the notoriously expensive state has also seen the country's largest population exodus, a new report says."New York's net migration loss -- the sum of domestic and foreign migration -- increased over the last decade to its highest level since the 1970s," the Empire Center for New York State Policy said in the report released Tuesday.Some 1.6 million New Yorkers left for other states in the first decade of the 21st century, the fiscally conservative think tank said in the report, which is based on analysis of census data and other statistics.High taxes, red tape and high property prices drive residents out, despite the historic role of New York City as a gateway to America, analysts say.Since 1960, the state has lost 7.3 million residents to other parts of the United States, with an influx of 4.8 million immigrants resulting in a net decline of 2.5 million.Taking immigration into account, the state's population has grown by two million people since 1980, rising "much more slowly than the national average," the report said.Twenty one percent of residents in New York are foreign-born, second only to 27 percent in California.