On The Move > Domestic Migration: Sun and Sand and Jobs

Almost 600,000 Americans moved from the Midwest and Northeast to the Sun Belt states last year, the most since 2005, according to Brookings Institution demographer William Frey. Migration is boosting growth along Southeast and Western coasts as well as Nevada and Arizona, reflecting a healthier national economy that has made it easier to re-locate.

Sun Belt migration fell by almost half between 2005 and 2010 as aging baby boomers delayed retirement in the wake of both plunging home prices and stocks, and the “sand states” suffered from record foreclosures. Moreover, fewer job opportunities in the wake of the most severe recession since the 1930s prompted fewer job-related moves.
“Think of the recession as freezing people in place -- now that is thawing,” said Kenneth Johnson, senior demographer and public policy professor at the University of New Hampshire. “States with histories of slow growth due to large domestic migration losses -- which did better during the recession -- are starting to see less growth again.”

Mobility Still Restrained

Mobility of Americans represents part of the nation’s dynamism, and low migration has concerned economists because it tends to hurt the labor market’s ability to function. Even with the Sun Belt pickup, overall interstate moves are half the level of 1990, according to the Population Reference Bureau in Washington.
Demographers say the pickup in the Southeast and West likely represents the start of a broader mobility.
“The uptick has to do with a return of the job and housing markets,” Frey said. “Now young adult millennials are starting to make their way to rapidly growing regions where employment is plentiful.
Source: Bloomberg