October 06, 2006

Why People Move

When people move outside their county or from abroad, quite often a new job or a job transfer is the motivation. In 2005, of the 15.3 million people over the age of one-year-old who moved to a new county, 3.1 million (20 percent) did so because of a new employment opportunity, the leading cause movers cite. Of the 1.9 million who moved here from abroad, 568,000 (30 percent) cited a new job or a transfer, again the leading cause.

When people move within their county, the motivation changes: a new job or a transfer is one of the least important reasons. Of the 22.7 million people who moved but stayed within their county, 2.8 million (12 percent) said they wanted to own their own home and not rent, the leading cause for such moves.

The statistics come from the Census Bureau's annual release of data on geographic mobility based on the Current Population Survey. The data profile movers by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin according to various characteristics: educational attainment, household type, children present, income, occupational group, owner/renter status, and more. The 2005 data are the latest; our mobility webpage also has historical data.

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