Americans Are on the Move — Again

Americans are picking up and moving again as the recession fades, personal finances improve and housing markets recover. Counties in Nevada, Arizona, eastern California and Tennessee also saw some of the nation’s biggest growth in movers last year.

“People are finally starting to move again after years of hunkering down,” said Dowell Myers, a demographer at the University of Southern California. “Young people have kept graduating from school and moving into large cities, like Los Angeles and New York. But the normal out-movers have been suppressed. They are finally starting to break out.”

Historically, about 17 percent of families move in a given year, but the recession knocked that number down as low as 11 percent, said Kimball Brace, president of Virginia-based Election Data Services. After two straight years of improvement, the number of moving families has partially recovered to about 15 percent.

“The recession kept people at home. They couldn’t sell their home, they couldn’t find a job,” Brace said. “We’re starting to see bigger numbers. We’re not all the way back.”

By next year it should be clearer how the moves will affect political power, Brace said. But some Sun Belt states already are expected to gain congressional seats at the expense of Northern states where outbound moves are picking up.

Based on current population growth and loss trends, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas and Virginia would gain congressional seats in 2020, Election Data Services estimated this year. Alabama, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia would lose seats.

More from Pew Trusts

Nearly 1 in 10 in the U.S. Want to Move

Nearly 10 percent of U.S. residents are dissatisfied with their current housing, neighborhood, local safety or public services to the point that they want to move, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released today. However, only 18.3 percent of the 11.2 million householders who wanted to move actually did so between 2010 and 2011.   “Fifty-six percent of people who didn’t move in 2010 but wanted to, no longer wanted to move when interviewed again the following year. However, this does not necessarily mean that these residents were satisfied with where they lived,” said Peter Mateyka, an analyst with the Census Bureau’s Journey-to-Work and Migration Statistics Branch and the report author. “Some additional factors that influence if people move include time, money, health and suitable alternative homes, which may explain why many people change their minds about moving.”   The report, Desire to Move and Residential Mobility: 2010-2011, looks at the characteristics of householders who desired to move and their subsequent mobility pattern from 2010 to 2011 using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. This survey follows an initial sample, also referred to as a panel, of about 50,000 households for several years. Below highlights characteristics from 2010. Who wants to move? ·         Young householders: About 14.6 percent of householders age 16 to 34 reported a desire to move, com­pared with 10.4 percent of house­holders age 35 to 54, and 6.3 percent of householders age 55 and older. ·         Renters: 16.5 percent of all householders who rented desired to move, more than twice the rate for homeowners. ·         Householders living in impoverished areas: Of homeowners who desired to move, the average census tract (neighborhood) poverty rate was 13.7 percent. For all homeowners, the average neighborhood poverty rate was 10.3 percent. ·         Householders with children: 14.3 percent of households with children desired to move compared with 8.7 percent of households without children. ·         Householders with a disability: 12.5 percent of householders with a disability reported a desire to move versus 8.2 percent of those without a disability. Why do householders want to move? ·         6.1 percent reported dissatisfaction with housing conditions. ·         4.7 percent reported dissatisfaction with their neighborhood. ·         4.1 percent reported dissatisfaction with local safety. ·         1.8 percent reported dissatisfaction with public services.

Census Flows Mapper Highlights Labor Force Characteristics of Movers Between Counties

Of the 16.6 million people who lived in a different county one year before, 7.3 million were employed and 1.3 million were unemployed, according to new migration statistics released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. A little over 5 percent of the U.S. population lived in a different county one year earlier.

The County-to-County Migration Flows Tables, which use data collected by the American Community Survey between 2008 and 2012, show how many residents move (flow) from one specific county to another during the course of a year.

“These statistics show the work, occupation and employment status of movers at the time they were surveyed,” said Kin Koerber, a demographer with the Census Bureau’s Journey-to-Work and Migration Statistics Branch. “With the new update, we can see movements of occupation groups from one part of the country to another.”

The release includes new statistics on employment status, work status and occupation characteristics and an update to the online mapping tool Census Flows Mapper. In addition, migration flows from Puerto Rico municipios (county equivalents) to U.S. counties are included for the first time.

Below are a few highlights for all counties in the U.S., which provide an example of the information available in Census Flows Mapper:

The Growing Blue-State Diaspora

From the New York Times

Californians have moved to Colorado and Nevada. Massachusetts natives have moved to New Hampshire. New Yorkers have moved to North Carolina and Virginia — and, of course, have continued moving to Florida.

Over the last few decades, residents of many traditionally liberal states have moved to states that were once more conservative. And this pattern has played an important role in helping the Democratic Party win the last two presidential elections and four of the last six. The growth of the Latino population and the social liberalism of the millennial generation may receive more attention, but the growing diaspora of blue-state America matters as well.

The blue diaspora has helped offset the fact that many of the nation’s fastest-growing states are traditionally Republican. You can think of it as a kind of race

Best Small Cities for Starting Over (one in NYS)

Do you need a change of pace but the big city life is too fast for you? For a smaller setting that still offers plentiful job opportunities and chances to meet other singles, we have the list for you.

Smaller cities have the advantage of smaller crowds with attractions, stores, and restaurants that are within close reach. They may not have major corporations as an anchor, but these small cities have a lot of innovation, growth, and charm to keep you interested and fulfilled in your new life.

A city experiencing population growth signifies that it is a desirable area for people looking to move, whether for social or economic reasons. This statistic, combined with some of the others we used for this study, also indicates when a particular place has a strong job market, affordable housing, and entertainment attractions.

Next, we looked at each city’s income growth and unemployment rate, both of which shed light on the all-important economic conditions of an area. Not only are the cities in our top 10 witnessing lower unemployment rates, they’re also seeing salary increases, which is good news for residents.

Finally, for those who are looking for love (usually a good reason to start over!), we factored in the percentage of unmarried adults in each city, making it easier to find your match. And with your new job, you should have plenty of extra cash to wine and dine the new person in your life.

See the results from Credit Donkey HERE.

New migration tables show about 130,000 people moved per day

Across the country, 47.3 million people lived in a different house a year earlier and 17.3 million of them lived in a different county within the U.S., according to information the U.S. Census Bureau released on migration. This translates to an average of about 130,000 people moving every day.

Seven of the top 10 flows of movers were among counties in the Los Angeles and Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., metropolitan areas. An estimated 44,020 people — or an average of about 121 per day — moved from Los Angeles County to San Bernardino County, Calif., which is the largest number of people moving from one county to another in the nation. The rest of the top 10 flows of movers were people moving among counties in the Miami, Phoenix, Detroit and Chicago metro areas.

These findings were released in a series of County-to-County Migration Flow Tables, which come from data collected by the American Community Survey between 2006 and 2010. In the survey, household members were asked where they lived a year ago and responses were combined into a weighted average for the period. The tables give added information on current county of residence, the county of residence one year ago and the estimated number of movers between the counties. Additional tables provide the same information broken down by selected characteristics: age, sex, race or Hispanic origin.

New Census Flows Mapper

To help users understand and interact with these statistics, the Census Bureau has developed an online mapping tool called Census Flows Mapper. This application allows users to select a county in the U.S. and view the outbound, inbound and net migration flows for that county. Additionally, users can choose flows based on characteristics such as age, sex, race or Hispanic origin.
The application also allows users to download data, zoom in and out on the map to an area of interest, view additional statistics of the selected county and save their map as a PDF file.

Other County-Level Highlights

The largest yearly county-to-county flows originated from Los Angeles County. The characteristics of those movers, however, are different depending on where they moved. About half (48.9 percent) of those moving to Orange County were between the ages of 18 and 34, compared with 35.7 percent moving to San Bernardino County. San Bernardino had a higher percentage of movers under 18 than Orange County (30.2 percent vs. 19.2 percent).

Besides the county-to-county flow tables, there are also tables that contain flows for minor civil divisions for Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.

How Moving Companies are Changing the U.S. Landscape

A recent post here was about infographics; there is also a post about the 2010 Census reporting record low mover rates. The infographic here visualizes the Census trend.

Residential Mover Rate in U.S. is Lowest Since Census Bureau Began Tracking in 1948

The U.S. Census Bureau announced that the national mover rate declined from 13.2 percent in 2007 to 11.9 percent in 2008 — the lowest rate since the bureau began tracking these data in 1948.

In 2008, 35.2 million people 1 year and older changed residences in the U.S. within the past year, representing a decrease from 38.7 million in 2007 and the smallest number of residents to move since 1962.

Among those who moved in 2008, 65 percent moved within the same county, 18 percent moved to a different county within the same state, 13 percent moved to a different state, and 3 percent moved to the U.S. from abroad.

Most Movers Stay in the Same County

Geographical mobility, unsurprisingly, is a function of life stages.