Americans Are Moving Less

Posted by Carol Coletta on December 21, 2008

Only about one in 10 Americans moved in the last year — roughly half the proportion that changed residences as recently as four decades ago, census data show.

According to The New York Times, the Current Population Survey found that fewer than 12 percent of Americans moved since 2007, a decline of nearly a full percentage point compared with the year before. In the 1950s and ’60s, the number of movers hovered near 20 percent.

The number has been declining steadily, and 12 percent is the lowest rate since the Census Bureau began counting people who move in 1940.

Pew Research Center attributes the decline to the aging of the population (older people are less likely to change residences) and an increase in two-career couples, among other factors.

It would be interesting to compare the decline in moving to the increase in the number of people who feel themselves connected to (or have homes in) two or more places