Economic Malaise Slowing Americans’ Movement

It’s a notable consequence of the slow economic recovery in the aftermath of the recession: Americans are increasingly staying put.

“Domestic migration” — the movement of Americans from one county to another within the United States — was down sharply last year, according to new figures from the Census Bureau.

In 2011, 590,000 people moved between counties. That’s significantly fewer than the annual rate between 2000 and 2009, which was 1.08 million, and peaked in 2006 at nearly 1.62 million.

“The continuing low rate of domestic migration has been reinforced by the economic malaise that has kept job and income growth well below levels that would be expected in a more genuine recovery,” Wendell Cox writes on the New Geography website.

The new census figures also reveal that contrary to published reports, Americans are not abandoning the suburbs and moving back into inner cities.

As recently as April 5, CBS News reported: “Stung by high gasoline costs, outlying suburbs that sprouted in the heady 2000s are now seeing their growth fizzle to historic lows, halting American city dwellers’ decades-long exodus to sprawling homes in distant towns.”

In fact, over the past year the “core counties” of major metropolitan areas — the urban centers of the metro areas — lost 67,000 people who moved to other counties in the United States. Suburban counties, on the other hand, gained 49,000 domestic migrants, and exurban counties gained 49,000 domestic migrants.

However, core counties gained significantly more migrants from other countries than did suburban and exurban counties, and had greater “natural growth” — the number of births minus the number of deaths.

The Los Angeles metro area, for example, lost 50,500 domestic migrants, but gained 54,700 international migrants and added 96,100 residents due to natural growth.

The fastest-growing metropolitan area last year was Austin, Tex.; followed by Raleigh, N.C.; and Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio in Texas. Metro areas that lost population include Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Providence, R.I.

Concluding his analysis of the census figures, Cox — a visiting professor at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers in Paris and author of “War on the Dream: How Anti-Sprawl Policy Threatens the Quality of Life” — observes: “Until the nation returns to normal economic growth, many young who would otherwise move are staying put, as well as young families that would be looking for larger houses.

“The driving factor in the more modest domestic migration trends observed today could well be necessity rather than desire.”