Nearly 10 percent of U.S. residents are dissatisfied with their current housing, neighborhood, local safety or public services to the point that they want to move, according to a recently released U.S. Census Bureau report, Desire to Move and Residential Mobility. However, only 18.3 percent of the 11.2 million householders who wanted to move actually did so.
"Fifty-six percent of people who didn’t move in but wanted to no longer wanted to move when interviewed again the following year. However, this does not necessarily mean that these residents were satisfied with where they lived,” said Peter Mateyka, an analyst with the Census Bureau’s Journey-to-Work and Migration Statistics Branch and the report author. “Some additional factors that influence if people move include time, money, health and suitable alternative homes, which may explain why many people change their minds about moving.”
Who wants to move?
Young householders: About 14.6 percent of householders age 16 to 34 reported a desire to move, com¬pared with 10.4 percent of house¬holders age 35 to 54, and 6.3 percent of householders age 55 and older.
Renters: 16.5 percent of all householders who rented desired to move, more than twice the rate for homeowners.
Householders living in impoverished areas: Of homeowners who desired to move, the average census tract (neighborhood) poverty rate was 13.7 percent. For all homeowners, the average neighborhood poverty rate was 10.3 percent.
Householders with children: 14.3 percent of households with children desired to move compared with 8.7 percent of households without children.
Householders with a disability: 12.5 percent of householders with a disability reported a desire to move versus 8.2 percent of those without a disability.
Source: Census.gov
