Mobility has long been central to the American promise—fueling economic growth, shaping communities, opening doors for business and allowing citizens to chase personal aspirations. Yet the freedom to pull up stakes and seek opportunity elsewhere is diminishing, and the effects are rippling across society and, notably, the commercial real estate sector.
New data from the U.S. Census Bureau paints a striking picture of this shift. According to an April 2025 report tracking geographic mobility from 2005 to 2023, Americans are moving less than ever before. The trend crisscrosses generations, revealing subtleties in how age and life stage affect the likelihood of relocation.
For older Americans in the Silent Generation, the pattern of mobility is uneven. In 2005, 6.5% of this group moved within the year, a figure that dipped to 5.4% by 2010 but rebounded to 6.4% most recently—a change possibly linked to transitions into senior housing, according to the Census Bureau.
Baby Boomers, most of whom are settled in their homes, saw mover rates top 10% only in 2005 and 2006. Since 2007, fewer than one in 10 Boomers has relocated in any year, falling to just 5.8% in 2023, a drop likely influenced by home ownership and advancing age.
Generation X experienced the sharpest decline. In 2005, 23.9% of Gen Xers moved, but by 2023, that rate had tumbled to 8.3%. Millennials—often painted as America’s most mobile generation—peaked with a 27.1% mobility rate in 2014. By 2023, however, just 16.7% had made a residential move.
For Generation Z, recorded mobility was shaped by dependence on parents. In 2005, this group was between the ages of one and nine and 20.6% moved alongside families. That number fell to 14.8% in 2014 but climbed in recent years, reaching 18.3% in 2023 as this cohort entered independent adulthood. Generation Alpha, born after 2012, remains mostly with their families but saw a mover rate of 21.8% in 2014, dropping each year to 12.4% by 2023.
The Wall Street Journal reported that America’s growing immobility reflects an array of pressures. Soaring living costs in promising cities, uncertainties about job prospects and the burden of low-rate mortgages combined with record-high home prices stifle the incentive to move. This stagnation isn’t just an interstate phenomenon; local moves have slowed, too. In 2023, only 7.8% of Americans changed residences, the lowest rate since 1948, according to Census Bureau data.
Commercial real estate is feeling the vibrations. Stagnant mobility means fewer homebuyers, a more static multifamily market and waning demand for new construction. The indirect consequences run deep. The Journal describes a landscape where young people, constrained by circumstance, often cannot pursue better jobs—even STEM graduates are facing unusually high unemployment, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The economic divide between the mobile and the stagnation is widening. Those unable to relocate may never recover lost earning years, a reality that influences housing decisions for decades.
Businesses, too, bear the costs. Firms struggling to attract talent from beyond their home regions risk lower productivity and diminishing profits, reducing the capital available for expansion and dampening demand for real estate, The Journal notes. In a country once defined by its restless pursuit of new frontiers, the rising tide of immobility may reshape the map—not just of opportunity but of the places we call home.
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