Mobility in America Part 3 | Cities vs. Suburbs | Owners vs. Renters
December 1,
2017 by Jane Chero in General 
Once a country on the move, mobility reached a historical low from 2015 to 2016 with only 11.2 percent of the population moving to a different home or apartment. This compares to a 1948 peak of 20.3 percent. The third and final factoid series on Mobility in America looks at where people are moving. Are more movers simply relocating to a nearby apartment or home? Is there migration into the cities from the suburbs? Are some more people moving to sunshine states? The third factoid in this series focuses on migration in and out of cities and suburbs and mobility among owners versus renters.
Despite the perception that inner cities are increasing in desirability the data reflects differently. Actually a yearly average of 1.5 million movers have left Principal Metropolitan cities (urban areas) since 1985 while Metropolitan suburbs keep growing – increasing by an average of 2.9 million movers a year.
When it comes to the distance a homeowner moves versus a renter, it might be surprising to some is that the geographical mobility patterns among both renters and owners are very similar. At 60.7 percent owner-occupied units and 61.7 percent renter-occupied, the vast majority of movers in both housing types moved within the same county from 2015 to 2016. A higher percentage of homeowners moved to a different county within the same state (25.2 percent) versus 19.7 percent of movers that rented in the same year. Not surprisingly, movers from abroad account for a higher percentage of renter-occupied units (4.9 percent) rather than owner-occupied units (1.9 percent).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey 2016
(1) Nonmetro areas included Micropolitan Statistical Areas and rural countries