Mobility in America is practically ingrained in the national psyche: “Go West, young man,” “the new frontier,” “See the USA in My Chevrolet”. But in 2024, American mobility reached a historic low, as only 11% of the population relocated nationwide, according to a new report from Point2Homes.
In 2024, just one in nine Americans – 11% of the population – changed residences, compared to 14.3% in 2014.
The report attributed the change to various factors. They included economic and job-related insecurity, rising housing costs and the boom in remote work that offers workers more flexibility in where they choose to settle. It noted that a majority of Americans (65%) are now homeowners, a more stable housing option that affects mobility rates. At the same time, the volatile job market and rising home prices and interest rates discourage big moves.
In 2024, New Jersey (7.8%) and New York (8.5%) had the nation’s lowest mobility rates based on the number who changed their addresses. Other states with low mobility included Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Illinois, each with 9.5% of the population that moved.
More remote states had the highest mobility rates, led by Alaska (14%), Oklahoma and Colorado (13.5% each), North Dakota (13.4%) and Idaho (13.2%).
Nationwide, almost one in five movers crossed state lines, while 71% simply relocated to a different city. Over 500,000 new residents poured into Florida and Texas, and 400,000 into California.
Small states proved to be magnets for newcomers from other states, including Wyoming (36.1%) and New Hampshire (35.4%). Wyoming’s draw was its lack of a personal or corporate state income tax, a low cost of living and more affordable housing. New Hampshire attracted 49,000 new residents due to its similar tax advantages, low crime rates, strong educational system, healthy economy, proximity to Boston and high quality of life.
Other states attracting residents from beyond their borders included Vermont (34.6%), Hawaii (33.8%) and Delaware (33.1%).
Intrastate moves were more common in California and Texas, along with Ohio, Illinois and New York.
City-level data shows similar motivation patterns. Among large cities, Las Vegas charged ahead in the number of movers it attracted, with 26,485 (33.1%) of the 80,024 new arrivals coming from a different state. Among other metros that attracted the most out-of-staters, the leaders included Mesa, AZ, Boston, Seattle and Portland, OR.
By contrast, New York City drew in 702,239 new residents altogether, of whom just 20.4% came from another state.
Medium-sized cities with high shares of movers from out-of-state were led by Cape Coral, FL and Chesapeake, VA. Among small cities, five saw more than half of all new residents from other states, including Union City, NJ, The Villages, FL, Horizon West (FL), Nashua, NH and Madison, AL.
Renters (61%) were far more likely to move than homeowners (39%). The largest share of both interstate and intrastate movers were renters. They made up 61.5% of people who moved within the same state and 58.6% of those who moved out of state.
Both homeowners and renters, however, are moving less often than historical norms. Some states that attracted almost equal numbers of each group were Vermont, South Carolina, Michigan, New Mexico and West Virginia.
Among cities, the big winners in terms of new renters lured from out of state were San Jose, CA (90.8%), Austin (88.9%) and Boston (87.2%). Fort Worth was the big draw for homeowners, with 53.3% of all movers from outside the state becoming homeowners in the city as well. Other cities that attracted 50% to 80% of all movers from out of state as homeowners were Cape Coral, Chesapeake, Port St. Lucie, FL, Santa Clarita, CA, North Las Vegas and Virginia Beach. Some small cities tended to attract only renters, while others appealed only to homeowners.
“It all likely boils down to the housing assistance programs and opportunities that a city — no matter its size — offers newcomers and existing residents alike. Whether they move with the purpose of finding better housing (looking for a better home or neighborhood), reuniting with loved ones or establishing a new household; or for better job prospects and more professional opportunities, Americans’ residential mobility rates will always reflect their desire to expand and do better,” the report commented.
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