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Reason for Moving: 2012 to 2013

Written by:
Report Number P20-574

Introduction

Between 2012 and 2013, 35.9 million people 1 year and over living in the United States moved to a different residence. The mover rate for this period was 11.7 percent. Why did these people move? As displayed in Figure 1, housing-related reasons were the most popular response with 17.2 million (48.0 percent). Family-related reasons were the second most selected choice with 30.3 percent, followed by job-related (19.4 percent) and other (2.3 percent).

These data come from the 2013 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) of the Current Population Survey (CPS). The 2013 ASEC questionnaire had a list of 18 common reasons for moving, with an additional option to write-in reasons that did not fit into any of the predetermined choices. All of the individual reasons can be collapsed into four major reason for move categories: family-related, employment- related, housing-related, and other.

This report contains an in-depth look at the most recent reason for move data available. Using estimates from the 2013 ASEC, cross tabulations of collapsed reason for move categories are analyzed by selected characteristics. In this report, these characteristics include sex, age, race and Hispanic origin, educational attainment, marital status, labor force status, and type of move with distance moved incorporated. Next, an analysis focusing exclusively on householders is conducted. Householders are isolated in order to remove the influence of other family members who could be assigned the householder’s reason for move, thereby inflating estimates. In the third section, historical reason for move data are used to identify if any significant fluctuations are observed in the data over time. The last segment of the report contains a comparison of 2011 ASEC reason for move estimates with those from the 2011 American Housing Survey (AHS). An appendix containing information on changes to the response categories over time and how write-in responses are handled concludes this report.

Table 2. General Mobility of Persons 16 Years and Over, by Sex, Age, Race and Hispanic Origin, Region, and Labor Force Status: 2012 to 2013

Table 3. General Mobility of Employed Civilians 16 Years and Over, by Sex, Age, Race and Hispanic Origin, Region, and Major Occupation Group: 2012 to 2013

Table 4. General Mobility of Employed Civilians 16 Years and Over, by Sex, Age, Race and Hispanic Origin, Region, and Major Industry Group: 2012 to 2013

Table 5. General Mobility of Persons 15 Years and Over, by Sex, Age, Race and Hispanic Origin, Region, and Income in 2012: 2012 to 2013

Table 6. General Mobility, by Sex, Age, and Relationship to Householder: 2012 to 2013

Table 8. General Mobility of Family Householders, by Type of Household, Age of Householder, and Presence and Age of Own Children Under 18: 2012 to 2013

Table 10. General Mobility of Householders, by Sex, Age, Race and Hispanic Origin, Region, Tenure, and Household Income in 2012: 2012 to 2013

Table 11. Inmigrants, Outmigrants, and Net Domestic Migration for Regions, by Sex, Age, Race and Hispanic Origin, Relationship to Householder, Educational Attainment, Marital Status, Nativity, Tenure, and Poverty Status: 2012 to 2013

Table 12. Inmigrants, Outmigrants, and Net Domestic Migration for Regions, by Income in 2012, Labor Force Status, Major Occupation Group, and Major Industry Group: 2012 to 2013

Table 13. Migration Flows Between Regions, by Sex, Age, Race and Hispanic Origin, Relationship to Householder, Educational Attainment, Marital Status, Nativity, Tenure, and Poverty Status: 2012 to 2013

Table 14. Migration Flows Between Regions, by Income in 2012, Labor Force Status, Major Occupation Group, and Major Industry Group: 2012 to 2013

Table 15. Inmigration, Outmigration, and Net Domestic Migration by Metro Status, Sex, Age, Race and Hispanic Origin, Relationship to Householder, Educational Attainment, Marital Status, Nativity, Tenure, Poverty Status, Income in 2012, Labor Force Status,

Table 16. Metropolitan Mobility, by Sex, Age, Race and Hispanic Origin, Relationship to Householder, Educational Attainment, Marital Status, Nativity, Tenure, and Poverty Status: 2012 to 2013

Table 17. Metropolitan Mobility of Persons 16 Years and Over, by Sex, Age, Race and Hispanic Origin, and Labor Force Status: 2012 to 2013

Table 18. Metropolitan Mobility of Employed Civilians 16 Years and Over, by Sex, Race and Hispanic Origin, and Major Occupation Group: 2012 to 2013

Table 19. Metropolitan Mobility of Employed Civilians 16 Years and Over, by Sex, Race and Hispanic Origin, and Major Industry Group: 2012 to 2013

Table 20. Metropolitan Mobility of Persons 15 Years and Over, by Sex, Race and Hispanic Origin, and Income in 2012: 2012 to 2013

Table 21. Metropolitan Mobility of Family Householders, by Type of Household, and Presence and Age of Own Children Under 18: 2012 to 2013

Table 22. Metropolitan Mobility of Householder, by Sex, Race and Hispanic Origin, Tenure, and Household Income in 2012: 2012 to 2013

Table 23. Reason for Move, by Sex, Age, Race and Hispanic Origin, Relationship to Householder, Educational Attainment, Marital Status, Nativity, Tenure, Poverty Status, and Type of Move (All Categories): 2012 to 2013

Table 24. Reason for Move of Movers 16 Years and Over, by Household Income in 2012, Labor Force Status, Major Occupation Group, Major Industry Group, and Type of Move (All Categories): 2012 to 2013

Table 25. Reason for Move, by Sex, Age, Race and Hispanic Origin, Relationship to Householder, Educational Attainment, Marital Status, Nativity, Tenure, Poverty Status, and Type of Move (Collapsed Categories): 2012 to 2013

Table 26. Reason for Move of Movers 16 Years and Over, by Household Income in 2012, Labor Force Status, Major Occupation Group, Major Industry Group, and Type of Move (Collapsed Categories): 2012 to 2013

Table 27. Distance of Intercounty Move, by Sex, Age, Race and Hispanic Origin, Relationship to Householder, Educational Attainment, Marital Status, Nativity, Tenure, Poverty Status, Reason for Move, and State of Residence 1 Year Ago: 2012 to 2013

Table 28. Distance of Intercounty Move of Movers 16 Years and Over, by Household Income in 2012, Labor Force Status, Major Occupation Group, and Major Industry Group: 2012 to 2013

Page Last Revised - October 8, 2021
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