NC in Focus: Percent and Number of Movers
“When the Current Population Survey started collecting migration information in 1948, about one-in-five people moved over a one-year period. Today, that number has fallen to about one in nine.” – David Ihrke, U.S. Census Bureau
Moving is a common experience. The average American will move about 12 times in their lifetime. Most of these moves are clustered in young adulthood, as individuals move to go to school, start jobs, and form families.
In North Carolina, as in the nation, a smaller proportion of individuals are moving in any given year. In 1966, nearly one of every five North Carolina residents had moved in the past year, similar to the national level at this time. The percent of the population moving over a one-year period has declined since then. Only 12% of North Carolina residents reported moving between 2013 and 2014. This was a slight increase over 2013, when only 10% of NC residents had moved in the past year.
Statewide, the highest number of movers occurred pre-recession: 1.32 million individuals moved between 2006 and 2007. The second highest number of individual movers was 1.3 million between 2011 and 2012.
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