U.S. Population by Residence, Race, and Migration Status, 1967 According to a study based on the Survey of Economic Opportunity, only one-fifth of the adult urban population, white and Negro, had come from rural areas. Nearly half of the urban Negroes were nonmigrants, another onethird had moved within urban areas, leaving only about one-fifth who had migrated from rural to urban areas. About one-fourth (24 percent) of the rural white population had come from urban areas; in the case of Negroes, the proportion was only about one-tenth (11 percent). Data in the survey show that 46 percent of all Negro adults of rural childhood origin were living in urban places in 1967. The comparable figure for white was 39 percent. (Not shown on chart.) In this study, migration refers to moves of at least 50 miles. U.S. POPULATION BY RESIDENCE, RACE, AND MIGRATION STATUS, 1967 A POPULATION 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER BY 1967 RESIDENCE AND RESIDENCE AT AGE 16 OR EARLIER. *MIGRANTS ARE PERSONS WHO HAVE EVER LIVED MORE THAN 50 MILES FROM THEIR 1967 ADDRESS. DATA FROM THE 1967 SURVEY OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY. WHITE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA NEG. ERS 7099- 70 (9) ECONOMIC RESEARCH SERVICE Population Mobility Rates The rate at which Americans move-whether from one residence to another, one county to another, or one State to another-has been one of the most stable social processes in recent American history. Each year since 1947, about 19 to 21 percent of the people have changed their house, apartment, or other place of residence. During these years, the level of the economy and the housing supply have varied, the marriage rate has fluctuated, periods of peace and war have alternated, sharp changes in agriculture have come and gone, and the pattern of racial integration and laws of equal access to housing have changed. But the overall frequency of movement has scarcely varied. The proportion of people moving from one county to another has ranged between 6 and 8 percent a year. Of this group, somewhat more than half move far enough to cross a State boundary. A high rate of mobility from one residence to another is a characteristic feature of our society, and, indeed, of all open societies. It is not the overall level of movement and migration that has created the problems popularly associated with migration in recent years, but rather the circumstances and directions of the particular moves and the people who have made them. *PERCENT OF POPULATION ONE YEAR OLD AND OVER WHO EITHER MOVED OR MIGRATED. U.S.DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE NEG. ERS 708269 (10) ECONOMIC RESEARCH SERVICE Rates of Mobility by Age, 1967-68 No personal, social, or economic characteristic is so highly correlated with movement and migration as is age of the individual. Whereas about 19 to 21 percent of all people move each year, at 22 to 24 years of age when people are leaving college, getting married, having their first children, or starting career jobs-the rate reaches about 47 percent a year. It is also over 40 percent for young adults 20 to 21 years old. After the middle twenties, the frequency of movement diminishes with age until age 65 and over, when only 7 to 9 percent of the people move annually. The same age pattern applies to intercounty migrants, whose moves typically take them to a different community, or in many cases, a different State. At the peak age of migration, 22 to 24 years, a fifth of the population migrates annually. By middle age, the rate declines to just 3 percent. The movements of children generally correspond to the stage in the life cycle of their parents. Very young children are frequent movers, but teenagers still of school age are only half as likely as preschool children to move. 1 |