“The exodus wasn’t so big:” Census Bureau finds moves at 73-year low
The US Census Bureau this week released data showing migration activity has fallen to its lowest level in more than 70 years. The findings pour cold water on the anecdote that Americans are displaced more than ever during the pandemic.
The overall picture is consistent with some ongoing migration research.
He analyzed the Federal Reserve Bank of New York/Equifax’s Consumer Credit Board, which tracks a random sample of the whereabouts of 10 million consumers based on their credit records. The analysis shows that an urban migration is mainly driven by a decrease in the number of people moving into urban neighborhoods.
“The flow of migrants out of large, high-cost metro areas has increased during the pandemic,” Whitaker said by email on Thursday. “However, many other types of mobility, both long-distance and local, decline. The sum of all these moves shows that, in general, fewer people move in the first year of the pandemic. Translate.”
It’s possible the pandemic has accelerated, says Whitaker the long-standing trend of aging among Millennials and Generation Z members with families looking to buy their first home, leading to an increased “outflow”.
“I think it’s only a matter of time before the cash flows continue to catch up with the accelerated cash flows we’ve seen this year,” Whitaker said in a recent interview with CNN Business.