Economix Blog: American Migration Reaches Record Low

CATHERINE RAMPELL

Dollars to doughnuts.

The share of Americans who move their homes in a year has reached a record low, the Census Bureau reported today.

From spring 2010 to spring 2011, just 11.6 percent of the people moved residences, the lowest rate since the government began keeping track of migration in 1948. The difference between that rate and the 2009 rate of 12.5 percent was not statistically significant, but it was a far cry from its heights in the mid-20th century. From 1951-52, for example, 20.3 percent of Americans moved.

The record low moving rate was primarily driven by a drop in the share of people moving from one home to another within the same county.

Many economists are much more concerned, however, by the low share of Americans who are moving between counties and between states. Declines in this type of migration have been partly blamed for continued high levels of unemployment: stuck in underwater homes they cannot sell, many unemployed workers are unable to move to areas where there are more job opportunities.

Among the people who moved within the same county, 18.6 percent did so for job-related reasons; among those who moved between counties, 35.8 percent followed job opportunities.

Of the 6.7 million people who moved between states, the most common migrations were:

• California to Texas (68,959 movers)
• New York to Florida (55,011)
• Florida to Georgia (49,901)
• California to Arizona (47,164)
• New Jersey to Pennsylvania (42,456)
• New York to New Jersey (41,374)
• California to Washington (39,468)
• Texas to California (36,582)
• Georgia to Florida (35,615)
• California to Nevada (35,472)

Many Americans have stayed put for their whole lives, regardless of economic ups and downs. As of 2010, 59 percent of Americans lived in the state where they were born. The state with the highest percentage of residents who were born there is Louisiana, at 78.8 percent, followed by Michigan (76.6 percent), Ohio (75.1 percent) and Pennsylvania (74 percent).

Nevada, by contrast, had the most outsiders, with less than a quarter (24.3 percent) of its residents born in the Silver State.

Here’s a map, provided by the Census Bureau, showing states by their share of native-born residents:

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=69b67583c2b396555a298f734023095c