Contrary to popular belief, no great migration in pandemic

By Mike Schneider | The Associated Press

Contrary to fashionable belief, determination has been nary large migration successful the U.S. during the pandemic.

New figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau amusement that the proportionality of radical who moved implicit the past twelvemonth fell to its lowest level successful the 73 years that it has been tracked, successful contradiction to fashionable anecdotes that radical near cities en masse to flight COVID-19 restrictions oregon successful hunt of much bucolic lifestyles.

“Millennials surviving successful New York City bash not marque up the world,” joked Thomas Cooke, a demographic advisor successful Connecticut. “My millennial daughter’s friends surviving successful Williamsburg, dozens of them came home. It felt similar the satellite had abruptly moved, but successful reality, this is not astonishing astatine all.”

In 2021, much than 27 cardinal people, oregon 8.4% of U.S. residents, reported having moved successful the past year, according to the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement.

By comparison, 9.3% of U.S. residents moved from 2019 to 2020. Three decades ago, that fig was 17%.

Besides giving emergence to shelter-in-place restrictions, the COVID-19 pandemic whitethorn person forced radical to postpone life-cycle events specified arsenic marriages oregon having babies that often pb to moves. But the diminution is portion of a decadeslong migration diminution successful the U.S., said William Frey, a elder chap astatine The Brookings Institution.

“These numbers amusement a batch of radical didn’t determination oregon moved astatine a slower rate,” Frey said. “But it’s a longer-term trend.”

That’s not to accidental that cipher moved. The 1 uptick successful mobility patterns past twelvemonth took spot successful longer-distance moves, from authorities to state, compared to moves wrong a authorities oregon county. Those 4.3 cardinal residents who moved to different authorities whitethorn person done truthful due to the fact that of the pandemic, Frey said.

Demographic adept Andrew Beveridge utilized change-of-address information to amusement that portion radical moved retired of New York, peculiarly successful well-heeled neighborhoods, astatine the tallness of the pandemic, those neighborhoods recouped their numbers conscionable months later. Regarding the federation arsenic a whole, Beveridge said he’s not amazed migration declined.

“The aforesaid happening happened during the fiscal crisis. Nobody moved. Nobody got married. Nobody had kids,” said Beveridge, a sociology prof astatine Queens College and the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York. “All demographic alteration benignant of conscionable screeches to a halt.”

Other factors contributing to Americans staying enactment person been an aging population, since older radical are little apt to determination than younger ones; the quality to telecommute for work, which allowed immoderate workers to alteration jobs without having to move; and rising location prices and rents that kept immoderate would-be movers successful place, demographers said.

“I deliberation the roar successful distant enactment due to the fact that of COVID coupled with the economical daze is the large reason,” said Mary Craigle, bureau main for Montana’s Research and Information Services.

Mobility successful the U.S. has been connected a downward descent since 1985 erstwhile 20% of U.S. residents moved. That was an epoch erstwhile Baby Boomers were young adults, opening careers, getting joined and starting families. In comparison, millennials, who contiguous are successful the aforesaid property scope arsenic their Baby Boomer cohorts were successful the mid-1980s, are stuck successful spot owed to precocious lodging costs and underemployment, according to an investigation Frey did past year.

Advancements successful telecommunications and proscription person contributed to the decadeslong diminution successful U.S. mobility. Nowadays, radical tin get an education, enactment and sojourn household and friends remotely. In the past fractional of the past century, the road strategy allowed radical to enactment 50 miles (80 kilometers) from their homes without having to determination person for work, said Cooke, a prof emeritus astatine the University of Connecticut.

Rising economical insecurity implicit the decades besides has made U.S. residents little mobile since “when there’s insecurity, radical worth what they already have,” helium said.

The slowdown successful American mobility is portion of a caller stagnation successful colonisation dynamics successful the U.S. The 2020 census shows that the U.S. grew by lone 7.4% implicit the erstwhile decade, the slowest complaint since betwixt 1930 and 1940. Earlier this week, the Census Bureau revealed that the colonisation halfway of the U.S. moved lone 11.8 miles (19 kilometers), the smallest displacement successful 100 years.

___

Follow Mike Schneider connected Twitter astatine https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP