EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M. EDT, July 12, 2000 (Wednesday)
                                
Public Information Office                               CB00-107             
301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax)
301-457-1037 (TDD)
e-mail: pio@census.gov

Carol Faber
301-457-2454

           More Than 40 Million People Moved Between 1998 and 1999, 
                             Census Bureau Reports

  Between March 1998 and March 1999, about 43 million U.S. residents,
or 16 percent of the population, moved to a new residence, the majority
(59 percent) within the same county, the Commerce Department's Census
Bureau reported today.

  The information on movers is contained in a report titled Geographical
Mobility: March 1998 to March 1999 (Update), P20-531, which includes
30 detailed tables and four historical tables.

  Other highlights include:

  - Besides moves within the same county, 20 percent moved to another
    county in the same state, 18 percent moved to a new state and 
    3 percent moved to the United States from abroad.
                                
  - About 1 in 3 renters, compared with fewer than 1 in 10 homeowners,
    moved during the one-year period.
   
  - The South was the only region with a significant population increase
    as a result of internal migration between 1998 and 1999; it showed a
    net gain of 270,000 people.
  
  - Moving rates declined with age: 32 percent of people in their 20s
    moved while only 5 percent of those 65 and over did so.

  - About 1.4 million people (3 percent of movers) moved to the United
    States from abroad: 40 percent were White, 32 percent were Hispanic,
    22 percent were Asian or Pacific Islander and 7 percent were African
    American. (Data by race exclude individuals of Hispanic origin, most
    of whom are White.)

  - The Northeast had the lowest moving rate among the nation's regions
    (12 percent), followed by the Midwest (15 percent), the South 
    (17 percent) and the West (19 percent).
  
  The report and tables provide statistics on movers for such
characteristics as age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, educational level,
occupation and income. Also included are data on the characteristics of
those making particular moves (such as from the Northeast to the South or
from suburbs to central cities).

  Data are from the March 1999 Current Population Survey. Statistics from
sample surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling error.