Demographics, prices are keeping Americans where they are

Last year was a big year for staying put. Less than 10% of people in the U.S. moved in 2023, according to new data from the Census Bureau. That’s the smallest percentage since the bureau started keeping track in 1948. 

It used to be much more common for people to relocate than it is today. In the 1950s and ’60s, about 20% of Americans moved in a given year. But now?

“We are pretty much a nonmobile society,” said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution. Some big trends have contributed to this long, slow decline in mobility since the early postwar era.

“Back then, there were many more renters, and renters tend to move more than owners do,” he said. “And it was a younger population.”

And younger people tend to move more than older people do. So with proportionately fewer young people in America today, fewer people are moving, said Charlie Dougherty, senior economist at Wells Fargo.

He said there’s also been a steady increase in the number of households where both partners work.

“You know, finding two new jobs is a whole lot more challenging than just finding one. So that’s another big factor, I think, that’s holding down the move rate,” he said.

More recently, economist Jed Kolko said, the pandemic has also played a role. “The increase in remote work makes it easier for some people to stay put while finding a new job.”

Then there’s the housing market of the last few years. Prices have skyrocketed, interest rates have jumped and both inventory and affordability are near all-time lows — that goes for renters too.

Kolko said it can be hard to find a place to move, even if you want to.

“The big decline in mobility that we’ve seen just in the most recent years is a decline in shorter-distance moves — moves maybe just across town. And those are moves that tend to be more about housing than about new job opportunities,” he said.

So far, this lack of mobility doesn’t seem to be much of an issue for the economy, said Logan Mohtashami, lead analyst at HousingWire,

“This will become a problem for our economy when the labor market gets softer, and people start losing their jobs, and they can’t find anything local,” he said.

Especially if it’s still so expensive and challenging to move.