I think you may have missed the last 30 or 40 years.
The net migration to the south is pretty persistent across age groups and states.
http://www.newgeography.com/content...tes-population-heading-long-term-deceleration
http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/?level=nation&mode=map&state=0&submeasure=257
Explained in large part due to lower land/housing prices. The NE and the West Coast are getting too crowded and don't have very good land use policies conducive to affordable housing. The south has lower worker productivity as evidenced by their lower wages for equivalent positions.
So, what you're saying is this "journalist" may have missed a few things about what makes a place somewhere people *actually* want to live....