Internal Migration in the United States

Raven Molloy, Christopher L. Smith, and Abigail Wozniak

Figure 1: Inter-State Migration Rates Since 1900

year	lifetime migration	5-year migration	1-year migration
1900	0.202	0.068
1910	0.213	0.084
1920	0.216	0.091
1930	0.229	0.088
1940	0.219	0.068
1946
1947
1948			0.032
1949			0.030
1950	0.250	0.140	0.027
1951			0.034
1952			0.033
1953			0.035
1954			0.032
1955			0.031
1956			0.031
1957			0.029
1958			0.031
1959			0.029
1960	0.266	0.134	0.030
1961			0.032
1962			0.029
1963			0.033
1964			0.029
1965			0.029
1966			0.032
1967			0.030
1968			0.033
1969			0.032
1970	0.277	0.137	0.032
1971			0.031
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976			0.028
1977
1978
1979
1980	0.308	0.151
1981			0.026
1982			0.028
1983			0.025
1984			0.026
1985
1986			0.028
1987			0.027
1988			0.028
1989			0.028
1990	0.317	0.145	0.031
1991			0.028
1992			0.027
1993			0.026
1994			0.025
1995
1996			0.023
1997			0.022
1998			0.022
1999			0.022
2000	0.319	0.139	0.022
2001			0.020
2002			0.019
2003			0.018
2004			0.017
2005			0.018
2007			0.014
2008			0.014
2009	0.313	0.128	0.013
2010			0.012

Return to Figure 1

Figure 2: Annual Internal Migration Rates panel A, upper left: inter-region migration

year	IRS	CPS	ACS
1976	0.016
1977	0.016
1978	0.016
1979	0.017
1980	0.017
1981	0.016
1982	0.016	0.016
1983	0.015	0.014
1984	0.016	0.015
1985	0.015
1986	0.015	0.016
1987	0.015	0.015
1988	0.015	0.013
1989	0.014	0.013
1990	0.015	0.015
1991	0.014	0.014
1992	0.014	0.013
1993	0.014	0.012
1994	0.014	0.012
1995	0.014
1996	0.013	0.012
1997	0.014	0.012
1998	0.013	0.012
1999	0.013	0.012
2000	0.013	0.011
2001	0.013	0.009
2002	0.013	0.010
2003	0.012	0.009
2004	0.012	0.009
2005	0.013	0.011	0.013
2006	0.013	0.008	0.013
2007	0.013	0.007	0.012
2008	0.013	0.007	0.012
2009		0.008	0.011
2010		0.007

Return to Figure 2

Figure 2: Annual Internal Migration Rates panel B, upper right: inter-state migration

year	IRS	CPS	ACS
1976	0.029	0.027
1977	0.030
1978	0.030
1979	0.032
1980	0.032
1981	0.029	0.025
1982	0.030	0.027
1983	0.027	0.025
1984	0.029	0.026
1985	0.028
1986	0.028	0.028
1987	0.028	0.026
1988	0.027	0.027
1989	0.027	0.026
1990	0.028	0.030
1991	0.026	0.026
1992	0.026	0.026
1993	0.026	0.024
1994	0.026	0.023
1995	0.027
1996	0.026	0.024
1997	0.026	0.023
1998	0.026	0.022
1999	0.025	0.023
2000	0.025	0.024
2001	0.025	0.020
2002	0.024	0.020
2003	0.023	0.019
2004	0.023	0.018
2005	0.024	0.019	0.025
2006	0.026	0.017	0.025
2007	0.025	0.015	0.023
2008	0.024	0.014	0.022
2009		0.014	0.021
2010		0.013

Return to Figure 2

Figure 2: Annual Internal Migration Rates panel C, lower left: inter-MSA migration

year	IRS	ACS
1984	0.035
1985	0.035
1986	0.036
1987	0.036
1988	0.035
1989	0.034
1990	0.034
1991	0.032
1992	0.031
1993	0.031
1994	0.031
1995	0.032
1996	0.031
1997	0.031
1998	0.031
1999	0.030
2000	0.030
2001	0.030
2002	0.029
2003	0.028
2004	0.028
2005	0.029	0.032
2006	0.031	0.032
2007	0.030	0.029
2008	0.029	0.028
2009		0.027

Return to Figure 2

Figure 2: Annual Internal Migration Rates panel D, lower right inter-county migration

year	IRS	CPS	ACS
1981	0.062	0.110
1982	0.062	0.109
1983	0.060	0.107
1984	0.064	0.109
1985
1986	0.066	0.119
1987	0.065	0.122
1988	0.061	0.116
1989	0.062	0.116
1990	0.065	0.113
1991	0.060	0.111
1992	0.059	0.112
1993	0.057	0.111
1994	0.056	0.109
1995
1996	0.052	0.108
1997	0.050	0.109
1998	0.049	0.106
1999	0.050	0.105
2000	0.053	0.100
2001	0.045	0.089
2002	0.045	0.090
2003	0.042	0.088
2004	0.042	0.082
2005	0.041	0.081	0.099
2006	0.041	0.082	0.094
2007	0.035	0.080	0.089
2008	0.032	0.073	0.087
2009	0.032	0.078	0.095
2010	0.030	0.083

Return to Figure 2

Figure 3: Net Migration by Census Division

year	New england and mid atlantic	North Central	South Atlantic	South Central	Mountain	Pacific
1975	-0.0060	-0.0046	0.0038	0.0074	0.0103	0.0037
1976	-0.0075	-0.0043	0.0048	0.0070	0.0131	0.0035
1977	-0.0081	-0.0050	0.0065	0.0061	0.0153	0.0040
1978	-0.0083	-0.0063	0.0076	0.0061	0.0187	0.0038
1979	-0.0075	-0.0066	0.0090	0.0055	0.0149	0.0030
1980	-0.0054	-0.0075	0.0078	0.0064	0.0132	0.0019
1981	-0.0051	-0.0095	0.0063	0.0108	0.0129	0.0013
1982	-0.0036	-0.0073	0.0079	0.0049	0.0067	0.0019
1983	-0.0037	-0.0066	0.0100	0.0014	0.0059	0.0025
1984	-0.0038	-0.0064	0.0102	0.0001	0.0051	0.0038
1985	-0.0039	-0.0057	0.0105	-0.0011	0.0044	0.0038
1986	-0.0037	-0.0040	0.0115	-0.0050	0.0023	0.0045
1987	-0.0038	-0.0028	0.0107	-0.0049	-0.0002	0.0041
1988	-0.0048	-0.0023	0.0096	-0.0025	0.0008	0.0023
1989	-0.0060	-0.0016	0.0087	-0.0008	0.0035	0.0007
1990	-0.0070	-0.0010	0.0067	0.0016	0.0091	-0.0017
1991	-0.0069	-0.0009	0.0056	0.0028	0.0116	-0.0031
1992	-0.0057	-0.0008	0.0058	0.0034	0.0149	-0.0075
1993	-0.0059	-0.0013	0.0066	0.0042	0.0177	-0.0095
1994	-0.0064	-0.0005	0.0063	0.0030	0.0154	-0.0079
1995	-0.0061	-0.0008	0.0058	0.0026	0.0114	-0.0054
1996	-0.0064	-0.0020	0.0063	0.0020	0.0101	-0.0025
1997	-0.0054	-0.0026	0.0059	0.0022	0.0079	-0.0016
1998	-0.0043	-0.0019	0.0053	0.0010	0.0074	-0.0019
1999	-0.0040	-0.0019	0.0056	0.0005	0.0072	-0.0022
2000	-0.0038	-0.0026	0.0057	-0.0000	0.0070	-0.0007
2001	-0.0039	-0.0027	0.0062	0.0010	0.0066	-0.0022
2002	-0.0039	-0.0023	0.0059	0.0013	0.0053	-0.0022
2003	-0.0058	-0.0026	0.0077	0.0017	0.0081	-0.0033
2004	-0.0068	-0.0028	0.0081	0.0027	0.0107	-0.0048
2005	-0.0066	-0.0026	0.0073	0.0025	0.0126	-0.0051
2006	-0.0056	-0.0028	0.0043	0.0057	0.0097	-0.0048
2007	-0.0041	-0.0029	0.0025	0.0048	0.0061	-0.0019

Return to Figure 3

Figure 4: Negative Equity and Changes in Migration 2006-2009

state	X-axis: share of household with negative equity	y-axis, panel A: change in mobility, CPS	y-axis, panel B: change in mobility, ACS
Alabama	7.8	-1.1	-0.1
Alaska	9.9	-1.7	-0.1
Arizona	49.0	-1.9	-0.3
Arkansas	11.7	-0.7	-1.0
California	34.8	-0.2	-1.1
Colorado	19.4	-1.1	-1.0
Connecticut	11.0	-1.5	-0.6
Delaware	14.1	-0.9	-0.2
Florida	45.7	-1.0	-1.0
Georgia	25.3	-0.7	-0.4
Hawaii	8.6	-2.1	-0.1
Idaho	20.7	-2.0	-1.4
Illinois	19.2	-0.7	-1.1
Indiana	9.5	-0.7	-0.2
Iowa	9.2	-1.1	-1.2
Kansas	10.5	-1.9	-0.6
Kentucky	9.1	-2.7	-0.5
Louisiana	11.8	-11.6	-6.3
Maine	9.7	-0.9	0.3
Maryland	22.0	-0.9	-1.1
Massachusetts	15.7	-0.9	-0.9
Michigan	37.7	0.2	-0.2
Minnesota	15.9	-1.6	-0.3
Mississippi	23.9	-0.8	-1.2
Missouri	14.4	-2.5	-1.2
Montana	6.6	-1.6	-1.1
Nebraska	9.2	-2.8	-0.8
Nevada	66.6	0.9	-0.3
New Hampshire	18.7	1.1	1.1
New Jersey	15.6	-1.8	-1.1
New Mexico	11.5	-0.9	0.1
New York	6.2	-0.5	-1.1
North Carolina	9.4	-3.0	-0.5
North Dakota	8.3	-0.1	-0.4
Ohio	20.0	0.6	-0.5
Oklahoma	6.1	-2.3	-0.6
Oregon	14.6	-0.9	-1.2
Pennsylvania	7.5	-0.3	-0.3
Rhode Island	16.4	-0.0	-0.6
South Carolina	12.5	-0.9	-0.6
Tennessee	13.5	0.1	-0.5
Texas	11.3	-0.6	-1.1
Utah	19.2	-1.8	-0.9
Virginia	24.0	-3.1	-0.8
Washington	14.8	-0.7	-0.9
West Virginia	4.4	2.7	0.1
Wisconsin	14.3	-1.6	-0.7
Wyoming	15.2	-5.2	-0.9
Each panel also plots a regression line through the scatterplot.
For panel A, the regression equation is: change in migration = -1.678 + 0.25 * percent negative equity. The standard error on the constant is 0.5 and on the negative equity coefficient is 0.024.
For panel B, the regression equation is: change in migration = -0.786 + 0.002 * percent negative equity. The standard error on the constant is 0.242 and on the negative equity coefficient is 0.012.

Return to Figure 4

Figure 5: Fraction of the Population in 2005 that Moved Residence in the Previous Year

country	percent having moved in last year
Finland	14.10
Denmark	13.69
United States	11.79
Great Britain	11.34
France	11.17
Ireland	10.83
Latvia	10.47
Northern Ireland	10.13
Germany West	8.88
Estonia	7.94
Sweden	6.47
Spain	6.45
The Netherlands	6.40
Hungary	6.23
Lithuania	6.05
Greece	5.88
Austria	4.74
Slovenia	4.33
Italy	3.99
Poland	3.66
Luxembourg	3.62
Belgium	3.59
Cyprus (Republic)	3.24
Czech Republic	2.55
Slovakia	2.01
Portugal	1.72

Return to Figure 5

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