Assessing changes in interstate migration patterns of the United States elderly population, 1965-1990

Abstract

This study examines temporal changes in elderly interstate migration in the United States. All of the interstate movers who were 60 and over are selected from the Public Use Micro‐Samples (PUMS) of the 1970, 1980 and 1990 censuses, and three interstate mobility tables are constructed. A triply‐constrained gravity model is used to compare the propensities of moving to southern destinations while controlling population sizes for origins, destinations and sample years. The results show that the propensity for moving from cold regions to warm regions has declined by 2.5% since 1980. Elderly migrants from the major retiree‐sending regions have begun to lose their ties to the popular southern migration destinations (e.g. Florida, Arizona, California), and, for the most part, this process started in the late 1980s. However, unlike the temporal pattern of the United Kingdom, where elderly migrants have started to move to various inland destinations, US states that registered a persistent gain in the share of elderly migrants are still in the south or southwest, and they are the new competitors to the traditionally established retirement destinations. Newly emergent interstate elderly migration trends can be characterised as geographically focused decline and focused growth. Even though this trend has not caused a reduction in the number of elderly movers to the traditional retirement magnet states, it may result in the saturation of long‐term care facilities in the traditional retirement states while causing shortages in new retirement states. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Migration of elderly households in Canada, 1991–1996: determinants and differences

“…Destination preferences in the US have changed over the last 30 years. Lin (1999) reported that the propensity to move from cold to warm areas has decreased since 1980, and the traditional retirement states of Florida, Arizona and California are now joined by other popular retirement states in the south and southwest. Movement out of urban areas was confirmed by Fuguitt and Beale (1993); metropolitan areas lost and non-metropolitan areas gained elderly migrants.…”

Later-Life Migration in the United States: A Review of Recent Research

“…Other major destinations include Texas, Colorado, the coastal areas of the Southeast and the Pacific Northwest, the Ozarks (Arkansas and Missouri), and the lake regions of the North Central states. Although retirement migration from the North to the Sunbelt may have subsided somewhat during the 1980s, the major regional patterns established during the past few decades have continued to the present day (Fuguitt and Beale 1993;Golant 1990b;Graff and Wiseman 1990;Lin 1999;Longino 1995;Rex 1996;Rogers 1992). Frey et al (2000) identify the most popular destination states for various groups of elderly interstate migrants.…”

The Changing Roles of Disability, Veteran, and Socioeconomic Status in Elderly Interstate Migration

“…Moreover, all of these studies investigate migrant characteristics at one point in time. In contrast, research that studies changes in elderly migration over time has focused on the frequency and geographic distribution of interstate moves (e.g., Conway and Rork 2010;Flynn et al 1985;Lin 1999;Longino and Bradley 2003). Most find fairly stable geographic patterns and lend support to Wolf and Longino's (2005) dispute of our "increasingly mobile" society.…”