Analyzing Pop Growth - Net In-Migration vs Net Natural Change

[Billy San Roman]

I have decided to take the plunge into out of state RE investing and have begun by printing out a couple of Comprehensive Market Analysis reports for several areas I am interested in. Knowing that population growth is one of the most important factors to consider when choosing a market I would like to know if anyone has an opinion on which metric indicates a "better" situation. In reading about population growth I have seen a lot of comparisons to net-in migration growth rates vs net natural change and in some instances net in migration is increasing while net natural change is decreasing creating flat to 1% growth in that market. Is this something that you look at and consider when choosing an out of state market and if so how do you use these two metrics to make some of your decisions?

Thank you in advance for reading and sharing some insight.