USA: Renters move Four Times More Than Homeowners do

The U.S. Census Bureau has released a series of tables on the 40 million Americans who moved between 2005 and 2006, including characteristics of movers by type of move. Published annually at the national and regional levels, these tables reveal trends about migration in the United States.

Some of this year’s findings include the following:

In 2006, 39.8 million United States residents moved within the previous one-year period.

The moving rate remained statistically unchanged from 2005 at 14 percent.

Nearly half of the reasons given for moving were housing related, such as wanting a bigger or smaller house.

The West had the highest moving rate (16 percent), followed by the South (15 percent), the Midwest (13 percent) and the Northeast (10 percent).

Hispanics had the highest moving rate (18 percent), followed by blacks (17 percent), Asians (14 percent) and non-Hispanic whites (12 percent).

In 2006, nearly one-third of all people living in renter-occupied housing units lived elsewhere a year earlier. The moving rate for people living in owner-occupied housing units was 7 percent.

For the population 16 and older, 24 percent of those who were unemployed in 2006 lived in a different place a year earlier. This compares with 14 percent of those who were employed in 2006 and 10 percent for those not in the labour force.

Most movers stayed within the same county (62 percent), while 20 percent moved from a different county within the same state; 14 percent moved from a different state and 3 percent moved from abroad.