Moving For Work, More Americans Moved In 2012 After 2011 Record Low

Americans are moving again. Barely. The overall number of Americans who moved residences rose from a historic low in 2011 and the number of people who said they moved for work also grew.

The overall number of Americans who moved for work grew by 8.8% in 2012 compared with 2011 to slightly more than 7 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The nation’s overall mover rate increased from a record low of 11.6% in 2011 to 12% in 2012, the Census reports.

About 36.5 million people one year and older moved, an increase from the 2011 estimate of 35.1 million in 2012.

The number of Americans who said they moved for a new job or were transferred by their existing employer was up 21.7% from 2011 to 2.67 million in 2012.

The number of American who moved to shorten their commute in 2012 stayed the same as 2011 at 1.62 million.

The number of Americans who moved to shorten their commute in 2012 stayed the same as 2011 at 1.62 million.

“The overall mover rate for the nation has increased since a record low,” said Alison Fields, chief of the Census Bureau’s Journey-to-Work and Migration Statistics Branch. “However, compared to previous years, mobility is still low for even our most mobile age group (18 to 29 year olds).”

“The statistics on migration come from two different surveys that, taken together, allow a clear and detailed picture of the movement of people in the U.S.,” Fields added

In what may be a small hopeful sign for the jobs market, the number of people who said they moved to look for work or because they lost their job declined 21% in 2012 compared with 2011 to 541,000.

Moved Into Retirement

However, another statistic supports the accelerating trend of workers leaving the workforce. The number of Americans who said they moved in 2012 because they retired was up 68% from 2011’s figure of 106,000 to 178,000 in 2012.

Americans who said they moved for “other” job-related reasons gained 36% in 2012 to 584,000 from 427,000 in 2011.

The number of American workers who moved because they wanted to be closer to the job and/or shorten their commute was unchanged from 2011 at 1.62 million.

Most Americans who moved didn’t move very far.

The majority of people who lived at a different residence one year ago moved within the same county, 64.4%.

Among the 11.8 million intercounty movers — people who moved to another county, either within the same state or to a different state — the most common distance moved was less than 50 miles, with 40.2%.

Therefore, even though they moved to a different county, the largest percentage did not move far from their previous place of residence.

This information comes from Geographical Mobility: 2012, a collection of national- and regional-level tables from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey.

The tables describe the movement of people in the United States, including type of move, why they moved, distance moved and characteristics of those who moved one year earlier.

These tables are part of four migration-related data products released today:

The Most Common State-to-State Moves

The Census Bureau also released state-to-state migration statistics.

The most common state-to-state moves in 2011 were:

  • New York to Florida: 59,288 movers
  • California to Texas: 58,992
  • California to Arizona: 49,635
  • Florida to Georgia: 42,666
  • New Jersey to New York: 41,450
  • New York to New Jersey: 40,815
  • California to Nevada: 40,114
  • Georgia to Florida: 38,658
  • California to Washington: 38,421
  • Texas to California: 37,087

Figure A-5resonsformove

http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/mobility_of_the_population/cb12-240.html

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