America was once a nation of nomads. But not anymore.
In the 1900s, nearly one in three Americans moved each year. By the 1960s, it was one in five. Now, only about one in nine people change residences every year, according to a reading of Census Bureau data by Point2Homes.
In a historic low, only 11% of the entire population relocated to a new residence last year. And of those who did switch places, only one in five changed states.
The sharp decline in mobility also was noted in Yuri Appelbaum’s new book, Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity.
“The sharp decline in geographical mobility is the single most important social change of the past half century,” writes Appelbaum, the deputy executive editor at the Atlantic magazine. “Fewer Americans have started new businesses, and fewer Americans have switched jobs. From 1985 to 2014, the share of people who became entrepreneurs fell by half.”
There are, of course, numerous reasons for the fall off. Economic instability is certainly one. High housing and lending costs are another. And that more people than ever are now tied to homes they own rather than rent also tends to keep people in place.
Yet another factor, though, is the increase in remote work. Because people can do their jobs from anywhere these days, there sometimes is no reason to pick and move for a new job.
Whatever the case, Point2 found the trend toward staying put is most evident in states like New York and New Jersey, where less than one in 10 residents changed their home locations last year.
On the other hand, Alaskans were the most active. Nearly 103,000 residents, or 14% of the state’s population, moved in 2024. That means 281 people got a new address in Alaska on each day last year, Point2 says.
Nationally, movers are making big changes. Nearly one in five moved across state lines and more than 71% relocated to a different city, “a clear sign,” the on-line real estate marketplace says. “that Americans aren’t just changing neighborhoods but often uprooting their lives entirely.”
The study also found that renters remain significantly more mobile than homeowners. Almost two-thirds of all movers are renters while just more than a third are owners. But neither group moves as frequently as they once did.
(Full disclosure: I write a monthly column for Multi-Housing News, a publication owned by Yardi, which also owns Point2.)
