The Pew Research Center recently released its findings on a survey of where Americans want to live. For nearly half – forty-six percent of respondents – the answer was, "Somewhere else."

If this survey is to be believed, nearly 100 million adult Americans "would rather live in a different type of community from the one they're living in now." For someone convinced Maine needs more people to help turn around our currently unsustainable economy, this dissatisfaction sounds like encouraging news. At least there's a market that seems ready to be interested in what we've got to sell.

New York Times columnist David Brooks looked at the list of cities where most of our discontented brethren would prefer to live – Denver, San Diego, Seattle, Orlando, Tampa, San Francisco, Phoenix, Portland, San Antonio – and concluded that America's infatuation with sun, sprawl and SUV's remains undeterred by either the dreams of urban planners or the nightmares of the recession.

The "American Dream circa 2009," he says "are places where you can imagine yourself with a stuffed garage – filled with skis, kayaks, soccer equipment, hiking boots and boating equipment."

It's a place "where spectacular natural scenery is visible from medium-density residential neighborhoods." It is a place that is "car-dependent and spread out" but at the same time a place with "a strong cultural identity," a place with "at least the promise of friendlier neighborhoods, slower lifestyles and service-sector employment." These dream places, Brooks contends, are where Americans can have it all: "the machine and the garden."

Sounds a lot like Maine to me – at least from May through October.

And that fact underlines a major point that both Pew and Brooks missed. For a growing number of young knowledge workers and partial retirees, "having it all" means not having to live in one place all the time.

Career mobility – having to live close to your job – is part of the reason people are dissatisfied with where they live. My home is now where my job is, but it's not where I want to be. If "home" is where my heart is, then my current residence is not really my "home."

Seasonal mobility – living where you want to live, when you want to live there – is one way around this problem. It's also a way around the "sunshine" problem. The Pew survey found that people preferred – by 2 to 1 – to live in a hot-weather place over a cold-weather place. Given our winters here in Maine (and don't say a word about mud season or black flies), the sunshine preference puts us at a distinct disadvantage. But, for those who can escape the worst of our cold, Maine has a lot to offer.

According to the Pew survey, only 1 percent of adult Americans said that "if they could live anywhere in the country" they would pick Maine. On the surface, that doesn't sound like much. Puny compared to the 13 percent who picked California (the survey was conducted last October) and the 8 percent who picked Florida and the 5 percent who picked Texas.

But 1 percent of adult Americans is more than 2 million people, nearly 70 percent more than our entire population. I've always been just a bit skeptical about the old saw that everyone who ever came to summer camp in Maine or glimpsed our shores from a cruise ship forever after harbored a secret desire to return. But maybe it is true. Two million people, if given the choice, would pick Maine. Looks like we've got a target market – if we can just find them.

Even more telling, however, is the relative desire. Twenty-three other states also got 1 percent of American adults to say they'd rather live there than anywhere else. Just over 2 million American adults would rather live in Michigan than any other state. Another 2 million picked New Jersey – and Minnesota – and Indiana –...