The number of people moving has declined in lockstep with the divide between rich and poor. It costs thousands for a family to move. That's too many hours of low wage pay to justify the cost.
5
The transformation of the US into a high interest financial node in the global economy encourages disintermediation. Both parties have supported this as the rich have benefited (summary of predator nation http://www.robsstrategystudio.org/awfcasfw.htm).
But the long term transformation will leave a dynamic where the aristocracy split into the super rich and the rest. Historically that results in violent unrest. The US can still back away from this strategy but Trump's claims to be doing this show no follow through. Moderate democrats may understand the implications but they seem happy to blame Trump for the issues - which is not the case (summary of divide http://www.robsstrategystudio.org/awfcasaj.htm).
1
One thing that deters me from moving is not just the astronomical costs of homes, but the closing costs which are non-recupable. Have they always been so high? Now with the advant of the internet I'm wondering what the value really is for real estate agents anyways?
4
If anything, I want to move somewhere affordable like Allentown or Harrisburg PA; Wheeling, West Virginia has houses for under $200K. My studio apartment in DC can sell for $299K. It's insane in DC, NYC, and Boston. A friend of mine left the Bay Area after her rent went to $4,000 a month. Who can afford to live on the coasts?
4
I bought my house at the beach in 1998 for a million dollars, which was a big stretch at the time, and it has more than tripled in value. If I moved, not only would I lose my locked-in basis for property taxes (under Prop 13) but California would tax the gain as ordinary income instead of at capital gains rates as the feds do. And there’s no $250,000/$500,000 exclusion as at the federal level. My gain alone would put me in California’s highest income tax bracket, 12.3 percent plus a one percent surcharge on anything over $1 million. So I can never afford to move. Fortunately, I live in a beautiful area with many amenities. But as a public policy matter, California tax laws are responsible for greatly diminishing mobility, especially among seniors like me who can’t afford the huge penalty for moving.
2
People do not need to travel for new experiences and exposures like they did a generation ago. They just go on to their computer and device and can literally spend weeks reading about and looking at pictures of Mongolia, Macedonia or Maine... This, coupled with today's prohibitive costs of making any lateral move, make moving anywhere, even into another apartment across a tightly populated major city, daunting and threatening, if not impossible.
1
I find that really interesting. Since mobility and communication is easier today than in the 1950s, I would think people would move more frequently.
One factor that no one highlights in these discussions is the role of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). After the George W. Bush administration, the traditional stock market ceased to be a reliable source of income for investors. Business schools and other financial experts pointed people toward real estate as the new investment potential, and REITs grew -- these are companies like AvalonBay, that now build thousands of expensive luxury units in many US cities, buying and displacing older, mom-and-pop owned apartment buildings. Avalon is only one -- any new, glistening apartment complex you see going up is financed by an REIT. So, much of this lack of affordable housing is driven by investors who moved from the stock market into real estate, and see it as the new way to put money in their pockets. Not sure how you battle this, but like derivatives, a risky and basically unnecessary financial product created solely to put more money in the pockets of the 1%, REITs should be examined by a responsible federal government and SEC and perhaps regulated in terms of how much affordable housing they should be allowed to remove from the public sphere.
7
Some people used to move for a job transfer - staying with a company in order to build seniority for a good pension. There aren't many pensions any more, and seniority is meaningless.
9
Consider how now, everyplace is the same. Or becoming more and more the same as McLuhan predicted it would, as branding, technology and globalization have polished the edges off of character and difference. (Think of the TV show Route 66 -- driving to distinctly different towns that were once singular, getting pick-up jobs in a manufacturing economy that is now totally gone.) Also, as people stare into screens exclusively, they are both less interested in each other and less interesting in the themselves. Why not stay put? What's the difference between a Starbucks in Des Moines and one in San Diego?
6
@B Doll Guess you've never been to either place to make such a generalization. First mistake you make is ever darkening the door of a Starsucks and the second is to compare San Diego with Des Moines. I've lived my entire 73 years in San Diego within a couple miles of the Pacific. The weather is fantastic and the cultural amenities beyond belief. Within a 2 hour drive you are in either Los Angeles or the Colorado river recreation area. The county has 5 distinct climate zones and you can grow just about anything in your garden here. There is no winter weather here. So that is the difference.
1
Moving for a job is a huge commitment, especially with affordable housing being so difficult to obtain. People realize now that it doesn’t pay to make a commitment to an employer that is unwilling to be similarly committed to them.
6
This tells me, the once mighty dynamism and experimentation of Americans is faltering. People are becoming more insular, politically and geographically. Contrast to China, where hundreds of millions of rural dwellers regularly traverse thousands of miles in search of a better life.
3
Yet Illinois remains the exception with out migration on the rise. As it has been for nearly a decade. Taking with it talent, skills and higher income tax generating jobs.
6
@Kevin Epley
There are many reasons for this and the actual numbers are not that high. And so long as there is a Chicago you will always attract the educated (and wealthy) population that a diverse economy demands.
Don't buy the right wing media memes, it is the blue states that are well positioned for the future, random "moving" stats notwithstanding.
5
Could measurement error explain this change? My millennial kids move often. Without a landline telephone and informal arrangements subleasing space in apartments, they never receive much less respond to a census form.
4
We were actually made a big move from NYC to CNY this year. It took a lot of courage to finally realize that our salary wasn't going to get us anywhere. Our "comfortable" home was actually the basement of my inlaw's. They were so generous to make us comfortable. As much as we were comfortable, this isn't what I imagined. The amount of planning it takes to move is extensive. Not including the cost of moving. Now we are living comfortably in CNY, I do think about how we are in complete isolation. It honestly is a lose lose situation.
2
Millennials, speaking generally of course, are firghtened little things, fearful of being "triggered by" (or "triggering") anyone or anything, unless they are opposing people with other political viewpoints (whom they call "racists," or "misogynists" or "Islamophobes" or "transphobia"). They want security and protection, just like their parents gave them -- which is why they, if polls are correct, favor socialism. Tbey want somone else to take care of them, so they don't have to take care of their own lives or their own health or their own health insurance. Somebody, anybody, else has to take care of them.
4
I think you are being a little unfair. The world for millenials is much different from the world that I grew up in. I think they are responding to their economic environment with the same mixture of successful and unsuccessful coping strategies that characterizes my my baby boomer generation. And lets be fair social insurance is not the same thing as socialism. It is also fair to criticize the idea of individual responsibility. As individuals we are quite vulnerable, you can’t for example grow all your own food, make your clothes or shoes, fill your cavities, excise your own appendix, built or fly or drive your own automobile or 737. We live in a society of mutually dependent individuals with rights and responsibilities to each other.
6
@james
Another mis-informed consumer of right wing media that messages if we blame millennial "laziness" we won't need to address economic inequity.
My experience of millennials is quite the opposite of your fantasy. They are educated and want to live independently. It is a getting a foothold in this poor job market that is slowing their growth.
6
@james Our millennial children (27 and 31) are independent, hardworking, and do not support socialism. And I don't think they are the exception.
1
A detail the article fails to mention is the uptick in air travel amongst successful millennials. The desire for experiences (and did someone say social media?) paired with the gig economy makes for a very mobile generation who are content having a consistent home base. The motivation to actually “move” is diminished when one travels often enough.
43
@Sandy —interesting point.
3
@Sandy Also no need to move if you're able to work remotely from home...
8
Economists are puzzled? The middle-class has been financially gutted since the 1980 with wealth being transferred from them to the 1% and 0.01%. Huges debts for education, housing and medical bills is the reason people can't move. Economists need to quit looking at data and start looking at humans.
9
@June
I await the tome about life in these US and the degradation of the middle and lower classes on so many fronts post Ronald Reagan.
3
One company states on its website that it had a hard time recruiting people to move to its location. So much of their work is done online by people who have the talent to do the work but otherwise refuse to make the move. So I think the article might have been remiss for not mentioning that some jobs could be done via the internet and no need to physically move. There's a health insurance company located in Newark, NJ across the river from me, recruiters contact me every year to work on a seasonal project for them. Four days working from home and one day in the office there. But I never accepted. Newark is not Manhattan. I tell them I could just as easily work from home without having to travel to Newark. Spending one day working in Newark is not the same as one day working in Manhattan. No thanks!
@Wayne
Well thankfully they were able to ultimately fill the position in any case. And Brooklyn is not Manhattan either.
2
I tried to move to another city a few years ago, but I was not allow to sign a lease without a job. Nobody would let me sign a lease. How can I move then? And the moving truck would have been $4000, I don't have that kind of money.
5
A generation plus ago, I moved across the entire continent. Big move, high risk, disruptive of family ties.
Why? One big reason was with my new employer (and my old one, btw) there was an implicit contract that if I did a good job, they would take care of me.
Today, every worker understands that the minute it is inconvenient to have them aboard, they are history. The last thing anybody needs is to find himself in a new town, in a new state, with a new employer who just dumped him on the street.
A move today is more risk, and less reward.
16
There are many, many of us working class folks who would like to move but are not financially secure enough to do so.
10
They stay put, then, they complain about how the opportunities available to them are limited.
And they say it's all the Boomers fault...
Go figure.
2
Don't forget Trump eliminated the tax deduction for moving for a job.
9
Why move out of an economically depressed community when it's far easier to blame immigrants or free trade for your woes - and then vote for politicians who claim they will make it all better?
9
Economists and demographers should look at their own families
Two income couples in the middle class are now the rule
That’s a great way to make the mortgage payments on that first house after college and marriage, but it gets messy at the next stage in your career, when you have to accommodate the needs of two people. In the 50s, the man moving his family for a better job/in-house promotion could use his new, bigger salary to cover and justify the move. Now, you either lose the second paycheck or compromise and take lower pay, which may completely offset the financial benefit of the move. Add to that the insecurity associated with all jobs these days, why move?
11
The digital economy may also play a role. My wife is a dermatologic surgeon (skin cancer and other surgical issues), but as a Neuroradiologist, I can read MRI's from anywhere with bandwidth and the right computer hardware. Same is true for any information heavy profession. Until she retires, we are in Cleveland, but I will enjoy the slower pace in northern Michigan and do the same job for the same large hospital system part time from up there. Why move if you can stay in one place that you love and work remotely.
7
I always enjoyed watching Downton Abbey, but there was never any question in my mind where my position in that household would be; downstairs. The plutocracy seems to have us exactly where they want us; complacent, beaten down, willing to take on any job or combination of jobs that sustains us and keeps us running in place. This trend seems to be a complex combination of factors that contribute to it, but income inequality and its resulting cost of living for low and middle income earners seems to be at its foundation. Everything seems to stem from this; healthcare insurance, housing costs, childcare cost for new parents, college education cost, transportation cost, and on and on. This is the solution to the .01%’s problem of not being able to find good servants anymore.
7
My grandparents, during the depression in the 1930s no less, moved from North Dakota to Portland, OR, without jobs. They moved regardless, rented an affordable apartment and found jobs at a bakery and auto repair shop. Young people would not be able to repeat that scenario today.
12
A lot of jobs for millennials are in are in areas like Boston, NY, San Francisco and big cities where cost of living and rents are too high and do not offset the compensation packages. So the millennials stay put in places where they can make ends meet and where quality housing is affordable and expenses like parking and insurance is not too high. The other trend lately is many millennials can work from home using the fast internet. That saves commuting time and fuel costs and less stress stuck in traffic. With low unemployment jobs are spread all around the country and millennials can live close to their loved ones and school and college friends. The only reason to move would be better paying jobs or less tax burden and so there has been movement to Florida, Texas, Tennessee where there is no state taxes and plenty of wide open spaces.
3
You don't mention the fact that many more people are able to work from their homes through the internet, even for companies far away. This should also drive the figures downwards.
2
@Carolyn Nafziger That should be true, but the NY metro area has seen an increase in the number of people commuting into the city in recent years, taxing the public transit system, because the new jobs since the 2008 crisis were created in the city. Based on the hundreds of thousands of bodies in the trains and subways now, it appears there has been a trend away from remote working, which is unfortunate.
1
The reasons for reduced mobility are many. Soaring college and healthcare expenses. Cars that cost almost half of what my first home did in 1991. Investors chasing returns in the housing markets instead of traditional stocks. When Wall Street is buying mobile home parks, something is truly out of whack.
If you live in a thriving city or town, chances are you are in a place that is growing, but that means somewhere else a town is dying. In Charlotte alone, TWO companies bought over 10,000 homes during the recession, which they have cleaned up and rented. While this brought much needed stability during a housing crisis, it has now led to a shortage of affordable housing. Thousands of people are moving to Charlotte every year, even though it ranks among the worst cities in the nation for upward mobility. People are staying put once they come because there is a lack of inventory to move up or downsize into. This is good AND bad at the same time, just depends which side of the equation you are on...
4
Lest we forget, there’s the nest-feathering factor — the explosion of web-based home furnishings outlets, the growth engine of a $35B industry that ranges from kitchenware to furniture and flooring. Far less expensive on modest pay increases to spiff up the place with discretionary purchases than make a fiscally-challenging upgrade. Cause or effect? Who knows, but comfort lies on the living room sofa.
1
After moving many times during my working years I retired at 55 and moved from California to Hawaii.
When Hawaii did not turn out to be a paradise for my wife and me, we moved to Provence in France and started a new retired life in a very welcoming country.
The warm welcome from the French government and our multicultural retired neighbors was a deciding factor in our decision to stay in France seventeen years ago.
The French health care system is the best in the world both for competence and cost. My G.P is a Dutch woman who is delightful and very skilled. My French orthopedic surgeon who did my hip replacement surgery was brilliant.
Life is good when medical care and quality of life come together.
13
@Michael Kittle Interesting. Have thought near career end would be interesting to work for Nighthawk radiology out of their reading center in Geneva for a couple years to do some real "boots on the ground" research in Europe of potential landing zones.
3
I completely disagree. I live in Austin and I can tell you people are fleeing NY, NY and California like never before. It was only Californians until recently, but since the Northeast does not offer many young people good job opportunities they are leaving in droves and their entire families are following them. Forget what the government census consult U HAUL !!!
Austin, Nashville and DC residents thank "AOC" and here socialist agenda for sending our cities Amazon's good jobs.
9
Truth, Austin is bursting with migration from Bay Area , NE etc. tied to thousands of net new jobs from Apple, Google, Amazon etc. No state tax huge selling point!
4
@GD And yet I meet newcomers to LA all the time. I myself have only been here for a couple of years, having moved from the Upper Midwest. But in that time several other acquaintances and friends have moved here from other states. Of course I know people planning their exits, as well. So, to underscore one of the points in the article, I would say that the unevenness is quite pronounced. LA and a few other cities fully enmeshed in the new tech/info/service/innovation economies (such as Austin) see a lot of traffic, a lot of moving around. One effect is that there is a new segregation of mobility.
And @AOC and all her supporters say “You’re Welcome”. We have many excellent high-paying jobs in NYC and our own tech industry that nurtures entrepreneurs. But we have major challenges with cost of living,homelessness and failing infrastructure - all of which would have been severely stressed by the Amazon H2. And of course, as the hardest working people in the US, we don’t take kindly to people looking for handouts and a free ride...and you know Amazon is still growing in NY even without the hand out. So yes, a big thanks to @AOC and Socialism
3
This article doesn't square at all with the barrage of right wing conservative propaganda that says people are abandoning California in droves. Both can't be true.
5
There is nothing wrong with being a big fish in a little pond. Every community needs educated people. It's all in the way one defines success.
3
Andrew Yang is the only candidate I have seen talk about this issue at all. It is indicative of people living in a scarcity mindset, where people have to hunker down and survive paycheck to paycheck. We need to have a more robust safety net, so that people can take the risks that will help the country grow, like moving to get a new job, starting a business, starting a family.
16
The USA has changed in many way in the last 30 years and in many of those ways not for the better. The rich have grown obscenely rich and the working class and the middle class have been stripped of any of the protections they once enjoyed. Politicians pander to niche groups or billionaires with well resourced lobbyists while the rest of us feel unstable economically and powerless in a less well run, clean or even organized country. People don’t move because they can’t afford to try new things ...real $$$ wages drop and health care sky rockets while billionaires enjoy record profits and pay no taxes. Optimism is no longer an AMERICAN characteristic and neither is economic mobility. We are not who we were and I fear it will take generations to recover, if we ever do. It isn’t just about a new kitchen!
16
One more thing the boomers ruined. Thanks a lot for the corporate apartment chains that RICO together to artificially increase rent prices.
6
I have thought about this "frozen in place" idea for quite awhile.
When I grew up everyone moved (or at least as a child seemed to). We picked up when every dad got a promotion, or when our friends dad's had to move with the military.
During the great recession, and following great opioid addiction (which again was a building phenomena) no one moved. Everyone holed up in the same place. At the time
I remembered the great depression and the huge migration that happened. I remembered the homestead act, the gold rush, the movement after the civil war. I thought that the immobility was a warning. That people would rather be depressed, or angry, or bitter, or addicted than move.
Yes, moving is hard, but when your own well being (or your families well being) depends on it, you go.
Now I am not a social scientist - but I am educated, and observant. The article quotes Abigail Wozniak, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, "The change is important, she said, but it is still too early to tell if it is good or bad." I would say it is bad. I would say it portends a bigger problem, a division. I pray that our country can withstand all the change.
7
Why move? I am retired so no career chasing. House is paid for. Living in a depressed midwestern community my house that I bought 27 years ago has appreciated, but not very much. I have no interest in mortgage payments. Want to be close to our 3 granddaughters, especially the 2 and 5 year olds. At this point in their lives grandma and grandpa are hot stuff.
Several of my retired neighbors have gotten tired of the snowbird lifestyle and have sold their places in Fla, Az, etc. staying here in the land of cold, ice, and snow.
There there is the daily life connections. Finding new doctors, new banks, new grocery stores, new auto mechanics, and so on. People do it every day and I did it several times during my work career. That was then, this is now.
13
People are not moving anymore, they also do not trust each other the way they once did, do not have kids like they had 10 years back. We're now interconnected computers more than humans. When we malfunction we start shooting, commit suicide or power down with drugs. Old timers always tell me how machinelike younger people have become. It frightens them, it frightens me too.
5
I was the dimwit to move from a community, to fall for the whim of no substance, and therefore be impatient once more for a last, lone, final ride to goodbye.
6
Seems to me that the primary beneficiaries of people moving frequently are the realtors and the mortgage lenders. The cost of moving can be significant! So ask why articles like this question the “reduced mobility.”
Remember the old saw about how a young couple gets married and buys a starter house, and then trades up to a bigger house when the kids arrive, and after retirement they downsize? And sometimes families would move because the father was “transferred?” Well that’s all obsolete, and the real-estate business recognizes it but doesn’t know what to do.
What’s wrong with not moving if your circumstances don’t require it?
17
Why move if the 'there' is scarcely better than the 'here'. As a number of others have pointed out, except for those with highly sought-after skills, the U.S. economy, the vaunted 'recovery' and Trump's incessant bragging notwithstanding, offers little other than a dismal landscape of pointless, dispiriting, poorly-paid 'consumer service' jobs from sea to shining sea.
14
Companies used to pay for average employees to move. They would reimburse employees and their families for all expenses related to moving. I do not know any company that does that anymore unless your are an executive.
13
retired attorney F/71
Why are we stuck? What if #1: "The richest 1% of American families [that] have doubled their real capital wealth in 20 years" weren't money hoarders? They've "run out of investing ideas, so they've parked $4.7 Trillion in the bank." Do not spend.
While 40% of our bottom wage earners cannot beg, steal or borrow $400 for an emergency expense.
Put another way: "If the poorest 50% pooled all their financial assets, they'd have enough to buy up all the shares of Microsoft and Apple. If the top 1% pooled all their financial assets, they'd have enough to buy up all the shares of every corporation in America." !!
What if #2: Betsy deVos, our Education Secretary, and her ilk weren't systematically targeting our most vulnerable families and veterans who are strapped with 'til death do us part student loans? None of the age-expected spending and family-building happening for those people. We've lost the good spending that builds a middle class.
What if #3: The new McDonald's ads are a lie? You've seen the prime time TV picture painted: "McDonalds wants to be your best first job." Young latina girl gets her McD's badge + scholarship + State U degree. Happy Family!
Not where I live. McD's employs mostly 50-80 year olds. At one of two jobs to cover their expenses.
Thank Mitch. His tax windfall for the 1% in 2017? Trickle down? Nope.
Marketwatch Oct. 28 2019
17
Back in the day, manufacturing was a major part of the economy. That required aspiring managers or job seekers to move where the factories were.
Additionally, technology and communication has advanced so much that executives and senior managers don’t need to be co-located at headquarters and can stay in regional or local offices and still be promoted.
4
As someone who left an area with little opportunity and found personal and financial success this is alarming but I knew it already. Many Americans double down on failure everyday by being afraid. The democrats think if we give these folks more that is the answer. It is not. Take responsibility for your life circumstances stop playing a victim and pursue success. It may be harder today than thirty years ago but it can still be done. I did it. I am not special.
11
Some people don’t move simply because Americans no longer have to. There may be limited job opportunities in areas where they live, but they can receive enough welfare benefits or go on disability in order to remain in place and maintain a meager lifestyle.
The people who lost everything in the dust bowl didn’t have money to move, either, but somehow they did.
4
Clearly some people hesitate to leave a job they don’t like and perhaps a place they don’t like because it means they may be without health for a long period of time. What if in that period they or there kids get sick? Our present primarily private health care system works against relocation.
13
This is indicative of a slow down in the economy. This is like how things were in the 1950s.
This is not a good sign of how things are going.
4
Affluent Americans aren't moving because they don't trust employers, with good reason.
For the last three jobs in our family, moving was either ill-advised or catastrophic. We learned not to trust gilded offers that could be followed by layoffs or busts with little or no notice. We discovered companies would tell us anything to sign us up, and tell us nothing when they were cutting us loose. In other words, outsized salaries followed by no salaries was not worth dragging our family of four around to different cities and different schools.
We decided we would trust remote work and broadband to keep us employed at rates lower than our last jobs but far more sustainable in the longer term.
It's too bad many of us learned this after departing from our hometowns, where we would have been ultimately more happy overall.
We're not going back. Corporate America can go on without us.
28
Home sales in my area are way down, even taking into account that this is the low season. I assumed that it had to do with changes in the tax laws. The deduction cap is painful, in expensive California. When a huge mortgage not longer offers a healthy tax deduction, and your proper tax exceeds the cap, why buy?
6
What makes you entitled to a tax cut just because you bought a house?
2
@Jonah That's an interesting question. On the one hand it would appear to be a tax payer funded boost to home ownership. On the other hand its probably really a tax payer boost to the mortgage banking industry writing all those mortgages. Follow the money and all questions are answered.
Because everybody is poor thanks to trickle down economics. You can’t move. You can’t afford to move. That’s the idea. Inner space replaced outer space or the house. Plutocrats make you satisfied with less because they get more. Think about it.
20
Stagnate wages for three decades and this is what you get.
32
Keep everyone's footing on the edge and they will not take chances. Republicans know that people that are less than educated and aware of the world around them are easier to control.
11
Americans are not moving in large part for one reason, it’s the lack of portability in medical care. Localized medical coverage represents fiscal handcuffs, causing stresses to millions of American citizens who would otherwise try to improve their lives.
19
“...and rent was cheap.” Those days are long gone, we as the current generation are screwed.
14
My late wife and I bought our house in NJ for many reasons almost 20 years ago. We liked our house, neighbors and school. The only reason I plan to move once our youngest graduates high school will be simply because I want to live in a less suburban area as a single empty nester man in his 50s. Smaller house means less to get rid of when I finally downsize (says the man with our circa 2000 shopping cart in the garage).
4
A decade removed from the Great Recession, and homes in "wealthy" enclaves of metro-New York area are still weighted down by underwater mortgages. When people are living in "Pending Foreclosure" homes in tony Greenwich, you know there is something odd in the finance-fueled real estate market here. Great jobs, great schools, great lifestyle and still houses sit on the market for months in Fairfield County. Is the shift from suburbia that substantial even among economically well-off families?
4
Today our company moved a 90-year old couple from Florida to California, to be closer to family. People move for other reasons not just jobs. Also, most of our business are corporate paid moves.
People (OK, my mother..) worry how this effects our business. If the stock market is doing well that means companies are doing well and that equals more moves. So considering the stock market today, we’re fine.
Another great amount of movement comes from the US military. We move people in and out of this country and back again.
Historically, this country is about movement. One thing I’ve learned in this business is that there is no fire sale in moving. The need to move pents up. We just need to be ready when folks are ready to go.
4
In my extended family circle, the only young adults to relocate are the well educated (graduate school and above) and all of them have moved to urban areas. They obviously command higher salaries than their peers with standard college diplomas, all of whom are living close to their birthplaces and earning roughly what I earned as a college graduate twenty-five years ago, some piecing together multiple jobs. From my vantage, capitalism is crushing the working “middle class” as wealth rushes to the top and leaves most everybody else struggling with shrinking incomes.
301
Yep.
6
@Truth Hurts
Additionally, my health insurance is through my employer. Hence, no guarantee that I'll get insurance in a new location or job. So I'll stay put. Also, proximity to grandparents who can help with childcare, which is so expensive for 2 children, is a crucial consideration.
12
Moving just doesn’t make sense for most people anymore, most of the time. You lose your family network, which can be tremendously valuable as a safety net and source of free child care, in addition to emotional support. Moving is expensive and most employers won’t pay moving expenses anymore. Furthermore, most jobs aren’t really permanent anymore, in the sense that one has tenure or job guarantees. The worker has to take on all the risk, and for what benefit?
314
@Matt Green
It seems we have reached the end of of what capitalism can do to benefit the common man. Rugged individualism, self determination, "go west young man", etc. are the myths that seemed to be true for so long.
Individualism worked well when no one knew how large the country was or could be. There seemed to be no limit to the land and resources waiting to be exploited.
Now we have 350 million people living in fixed borders while competing in a global economy. But we still believe we are all on our own.
In the meantime we have allowed capitalism to go from what we thought was competition and natural supply and demand to market cornering and conglomeration.
It is time we begin to think of "us" instead of "me".
We will never have a safe environment, affordable education, universal healthcare, or world class infrastructure until we learn to think beyond ourselves.
23
@Matt Green All absolutely true, but as you point out jobs aren't really permanent more, a risk that one will still face by staying put. So some people do opt to move to areas with more future employment potential, a higher quality of life, or some combination of both.
1
The exploding rents make it a huge financial commitment to move even in your own city, just to move neighborhoods.
First, last and a security deposit due up front? Even for low rent places lots of Americans struggle to come up with $1000 in cash or check at once for doing anything, and with landlords constantly a struggle to get back security deposits, you basically take a huge hit every time you move without significant fighting with them to get back that money because a lot of landlords use it as a cheap slush fund because they know people can't take the time off work to go to small claims court, or have any means to effectively enforce any judgements
203
@M $1000 for first/last/dep? I'd like those sorts of prices around here. I don't even live in a city and any place that isn't a current or former meth den will run you 3k-4k for f/l/d.
28
@M Every place I ever rented with the exception of Sec 8 housing I presented the landlord with a court summons for the security deposit, I never had a problem collecting it back only one ever was stupid enough to go before the judge.
5
I've lived in the same house for 16 years. This is by far the longest I've ever lived in one dwelling.
Why don't I move?
I love my house, I love my neighborhood, my neighbors are great, my neighborhood is safe, I have no plans to change careers before I retire, my extended family lives within 60 miles of me, and if I moved, I would never be able to afford to buy in the same type of neighborhood that I bought into 16 years ago.
We lived through the bubble burst of 2008 and thankfully we were only ever upside down by about $5000. Now however, our home has skyrocketed in value, as have most homes in the Seattle area, so we are well and stuck.
Even if I wanted to move, I couldn't. Well, that's not true. I could move to a different type of town; not a major metro area. However, living near a beautiful, thriving, dynamic city is what I like, and though I love visiting places like Montana and Wyoming, and could easily afford to live there, I can't imagine that I will ever want to.
I look at rents in my area and some of them are $1000 to $1500 more per month than my mortgage. So here I am and here I'll stay.
199
@Pamela G. I could have written this pretty much word for word for the most part.
I've lived in my house for 18 years, and it's home. It's not just a house - siding and a roof and floors and walls - it's the center of my small universe. I know all the neighbors and have them over sometimes; when raking leaves this weekend one of my neighbors came over to help me, just to be kind, and we had a lovely chat. My daughter has friends in walking distance, I can borrow a cup of sugar or a few garlic cloves or a wheel barrow from any of a half dozen people, without question. When I got a really horrible sinus infection, a neighbor picked up my prescription for me. My daughter babysits the local kids. I mow the neighbor's parking strip when I mow my own (because getting the lawnmower down the steps is a pain, and since I'm there anyway....might as well....).
Some reasons to stay are economic: the cost of selling and buying again and moving is not insignificant and I'm not wealthy. But the real reason I'm staying is because I'm smart enough to know that my home is Home and I'm not going to ever give that up lightly. It took me many years to build my community, and it would take many years to start over and build up this depth. I choose to stay.
82
@Pamela G. I would love to live in a rural area, but as a disabled non-driver, I think I will be in DC suburb with good public transit unless self-driving cars become real AND affordable.
17
@Pamela G., I have lived in a rural area for more than two decades. I do not love my neighbors, or my funky old house, but I do love my garden and the woods around me. What keeps me firmly stuck here, though, is the low price I paid for my home and property (we in California benefit from Prop 13’s tax-base protection), so many years ago. And what’s left on my mortgage is pretty much pocket change. So if I chose to move to another home in my area, I would be increasing my out of pocket expenses at a time when I should be lowering them. I do often suffer from “fancy house” envy. Oh, well. A paid-for old house is better than a heavily mortgaged new one. I think.
27
Has anyone heard of "Healthcare Handcuffs"? If one enjoys a traditional employer funded healthcare insurance, then it is very difficult to risk throwing that away. The status quo binds us to our jobs. Imagine all the creativity that could be unleashed, entrepreneurs and artists, if one didn't have to worry where their healthcare came from? If it were portable, guaranteed and administered by the government, opportunity would knock.
549
Totally agree. The healthcare-employer dependency and potential loss is a serious demotivating risk for those in mid-late career (prime professional workers) with families in need of health care. I believe it is a major factor in decline of small business start ups and mobility and productibity, and it may partially explain why "tech" is dominated by the young and IT. Everyone hunkers down once they find something stable with those beneiits even we arent rising to our full potential.
39
@OAFF
How is the "healthcare handcuffs" any different today than the 1950s and 1960s when people moved all the time? There was no portability of any employee benefits including healthcare, pensions, vacations, seniority in the 50s and 60s, yet, people moved much more often for a better job even if it meant relocation.
4
@OAFF YES! I wear those handcuffs at my current job at a major private university. No one offers healthcare like this anymore. If I go to the private sector and make more money I will be on the hook for a healthcare plan with a deductible and co-insurance. Staying right where I am!
And moving-who wants to pay tens of thousands of their home value in broker fees? No thanks.
29
The aging economy and soaring real estate prices. Sounds like what Japan has been going through the last 30 years.
12
When it comes to moving for jobs, many of us can work from anywhere in this digital economy. And lots of us can work these gigs from wherever we feel at home.
7
This...is a good thing. For families, for communities, for individuals, for the environment, for local agriculture, for community resilience, for self-reliance....endless economic growth and mobility may have been a big part of the late twentieth century story but it is not the future of this country. Start contemplating the future that the climate crisis will hand you.
7
Well isn't this nice...
At a time when regional affiliation is increasingly connected with virulent resentment, social division, anger verging on violence we are becoming a society of old home folks, stuck in one place and inclined to defend our choice, or suffer our predicament.
The steady mixing of people from around the country has lent a sense of nationhood, of one-peopleness that, under the Trump influence, is fading fast, and now will likely be cemented in place for generations. And likely grow even darker.
If you think mindless references to "coastal elites" is offensive and even dangerous now, just wait a decade or two.
11
We might not be "moving" as often but we are still "in motion". Just look at the highways, airports and every other means of transport. They are all jam packed with people "moving".
6
The nation is almost completely homogenized.
Unless you work in the upper echelons of private or public business, the chances are likely that your profession is duplicated in every other city and town.
1
About 15 years ago, after being unemployed for more than one year, I accepted a job out of my state, about 2,000 miles away. My new employer paid some of my moving expenses to my new location. However, when the job didn't work out after a couple of years, I moved back home at my own expense. My husband was still living at our house in California. By accepting the out-of-state job, I was able to save some money to put away for retirement, which I could not do when receiving unemployment insurance benefits. So, I came out ahead financially. By the time I returned, the economy had approved, and I was able to quickly find some temporary jobs and, finally, permanent employment. Sometimes, you have to take risks.
8
A lot of us would like to move, but salaries are so stagnant we can't afford to move. It takes a lot of money to move across country and buy or rent another house.
23
Trump taxing employer paid moving expenses as income surely cannot contribute to upward mobility.
18
I looked at the statistics and two things jumped out at me. Old people don't move much as the article states. And there are more and more old people. As for young people, they're going to college more. However, the Census Bureau records their residence as their family home and it looks like they haven't moved. The truth is the young are moving up and the Census Bureau ignores the fact that they are also moving out. I think that's the whole story, and if we want to address the issue, the Census Bureau should record college addresses. And poof, just like that, countless more will have moved.
And if you're with me, you may know that Billy Joel addressed all this stuff about moving up and moving out 50 years ago.
2
On some level, people are not feeling safe or secure. Perhaps not moving is a result of the relentless fear mongering that goes on. Staying with the familiar is a way to have some control in a world gone mad.
11
I'm staying put because I work from home and use the internet to "get out there" for opportunities. I wonder if this still stands if you control for people like me.
6
yeah.....
it's called....having no money.
despite a booming economy, most of that wealth is rolling upwards. it is not benefiting the average joe or jill.
i am hardly surprised people are not moving, when they don't have the cash to leave their parents' home.
this is what tax cuts to the wealthy, deregulation, and a war on unions will do to the working wage.
59
At a certain point it is just a foolish waste of money. After paying a realtor and lawyer, mortgage fees and higher property taxes because of how property taxes work and then the hassle and expense of updates and hidden problems, and the fact that no job is safe, forget it. I’d love to pass my lovely home onto its next family, but I am stuck in place.
21
Too much stuff, too few opportunities.
10
I recently moved from California to North Carolina to be close to family. I got rid of a lot of stuff my late husband and I collected for over 25 years. I reduced what I had from a four bedroom house to basically a large one bedroom apartment. My moving van weight was under 5000 pounds. That said, the move (packing and transport) cost me $7000. Maybe the cost of moving is holding people back (except the young who have few possessions).
23
No need to pay that if you've already downsized your possessions; pack a U-Haul and move yourself for $1,000.
2
I think we are partly misreading the data here. Older people do not move as much, so that demographic change is a major factor.
The big problem though comes from sticker shock and impediments to moving. Its 20 to 35 year olds that drive this change, but now the price of admission to more lucrative markets is prohibitive unless their parents can help or they are in the top 10%.
Moving from rural areas is almost always a better prospect. But as someone already said, the cost to move, inability to get a job unless you are already in the area (so you took a big risk), and rent costs in a more expensive market are prohibitive for many.
The need for middle aged people along with sticker shock also keeps all but the wealthiest from moving in middle age as they have children who don't leave and parents that failed to prepare for retirement.
5
The United States increasingly diverging into areas that have good job prospects but affordability is a real problem and areas with low-cost housing but poor job prospects.
While areas that have both decent job prospects and reasonable housing costs still exist, the number of them seems to be diminishing over time.
Simply telling people to just move, either to where the jobs are or to some place, is an over simplistic answer.
22
One interesting trend I noticed when doing my own genealogy research was a change in how people moved between the past and now. A century ago, when my ancestors moved one family unit would move, then a brother or sister’s, maybe the grandparents would tag along. Essentially, it was like the Beverly Hillbillies, with literally a huge portion of the extended family up and moving. This held true in rather prominent examples of my family such as from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression, and even other moves from Illinois to Iowa in the 1890s. In contrast during modern times, no one has moved out of California except my parents, siblings and I. We are the sole people who have moved across states.
I wonder if this trend has been studied or if it is just in my own family tree. If the correlation applies to society at large, it explains at least a little. No one rightfully wants to move to a strange city with none of their extended family around, well many of us at least.
16
I think part of this may be in response to families needing two working adults rather than one to survive. In any given family group there are fewer hours available to care for children and elders, and existing support networks are critical for survival. In the old days there would be women flexible to accompany their husbands, fathers and sons anywhere. Routines of food, home, and health were able to continue anywhere, for better or worse. Women could help build networks in new communities. Now both partners need to find jobs, and those without jobs are relied on more than ever by local family. It’s lonelier and harder to move when everyone goes straight to work.
88
There’s no need to move if one doesn’t want to or must for the sake of employment. The real estate fetish in the US does nothing to bolster the inter-generational wealth of middle class families. Instead, the constant push for homeownership is solely for the benefit of the banks and other capitalists.
Multigenerational homes are the cure to many of our society’s ailments, including elder care, child care, debt, etc.
31
A factor might be that people’s credit reports are still negatively affected by the mortgage crisis. It takes seven years for a negative report to be removed. A low credit score affects your ability to move, find affordable housing, set up utilities, etc.
20
26 yo homeowner, thinking of opening a Mrs. Murphy boardinghouse for transient mariners. I am surprised this win-win (for owner and tenant) is legal in my city, because this arrangement is certainly banned in many high cost of living cities.
9
Thanks to Trump and GOP, no more home mortgage interest deductions. No more moving cost deductions. And you are wondering why fewer people are moving? LOL.
33
@Muddlerminnow It does exist just only up to around $500k. Even if your home is $1M you can deduct taxes on the first half.
1
@Muddlerminnow there's no reason for these deductions...with the new $24,000+ standard deduction for joint filers (and $12,00+ for singles) now used by 90% of tax filers it's actually a better deal...
1
@Jim Not true for many. My father owns a tax firm and said the majority of his clients took a huge hit last year, many owing thousands more than in the past.
14
Most of us can't afford to relocate anymore. Unless employers are reimbursing, unreimbursed moving expenses are no longer deductible for most of us. So working remotely is becoming the new normal.
26
Good for Mr. Mincks. great choice.
4
Grow or die. I have moved many times (and learned new skills to stay viable in the changing economy. "Life happens when you move. Stagnation happens when you die." - Panache Desai
6
"Three moves are as bad as a fire."
8
If you don’t move your wages won’t go up.
2
@Rich Murphy
Will your wages go up after cost-of-living is factored in?
If they do then it makes sense to move; however, if an increased cost of living is going to cancel out your increased wages, moving isn't an attractive option.
16
Of course people don’t have the money to move.
28
We're just getting old and stiff. Moiving is harder than just lying still
5
In relation to thus article, who cares if or where people over 40 move?
It’s roughly the 23-40 age demographic that matters.
2
@Jake Ageism is as bad as racism and sexism.
13
@Linda Thank you for that. At 73 I've been invisible for about 20 years now.
2
I migrated to the PAC NW do to climate change models.
5
This is part of rising inequality. People are forced to stay where they are and accept the going rate for jobs. A person who moves for a better job will find their higher pay eaten up by housing costs.
32
The author forgot or deliberately didn’t mention the many people who are reluctant to move and change jobs because of job-lock, the fear of losing health coverage for yourself or your family if you move. It is literally the elephant in the room for many. Europe doesn’t have such a system, preferring some form of universal health care. Think of the freedom when looking for a better job if you didn’t have the fear of no insurance.
96
@Alienist EU worker mobility, as measured as the percentage of working age people who move in a given year, is even lower than it is in the US. Look for the 2018 EU Labor Mobility Report if you are interested to learn more...
2
@Alienist Yes, and who would take a risk to move for an employer only to be laid off? Unemployed, far from home... no thanks
5
Perhaps decades of absurdly-low mortgage rates (which can't go much lower), coupled with a domestic policy of creating as many homeowners as possible, has crashed into the reality of a so-called mortgage anchor and skyrocketing housing purchase/rent costs that appears to have permanently changed the trend.
12
One factor that this article doesn't really discuss is the fact that since businesses and corporations are much less loyal to their employees than in the past, people are much less likely to move for a new job.
I had a friend who uprooted his family and moved halfway across the country for a job, only to get laid off just over a year later.
129
@Matt Yes, I was thinking the same thing. I have observed my prior employer move someone to the US from Japan only to lay her off and make her find her way home across the world on her own dime. I would never take a risk like that for any job, no matter what the pay or the promotion.
18
Another reason people aren't moving: Moving companies are rip offs.
We recently had a move by Allied. They messed it up from start to finish, destroying many pieces of our furniture, including some family heirlooms.
Their "settlement?" $38.
24
I've moved over 20 times in my life from city to city, I don't recall a time when it was so hard to do a housing transaction as it is now. Not only are people still upside down on their previous residences, but the paperwork involved with buying a house has almost doubled since the recession. Today underwriters and mortgage companies want to know every aspect of your life, its like they have to conduct a financial strip search of everything you have ever done before they decide you are a good risk. After this last move, I can't imagine ever wanting to go through the process again.
35
If you have a choice to move from any normal city do not come to NYC . It is extremely overpriced. Cup of average coffee around 2.50 to 5 . Rent about $6000 for an average two bedroom apartment with parking at $600 with tax. Need to make about $250,000 to beak even for a family of four . Homeless all over the place 120,000 homeless students that are overlooked as billionaires hide in these overpriced condos without caring about the other 99% of the population. The former Mayor Bloomberg who is worth $55 billion allowed major luxury real estate developments without any real development for the middle class. The majority want out as the whole city has numerous empty stores. Traffic is all over. Unless you want to share an apartment your whole life don’t come.Police protect the wealthy and avoid low income areas.
Quality of like much better in San Diego, Minnesota, Atlanta .
23
Of course, some people are moving. For instance, they are moving out of New York, the nation's leader in population loss.
11
@HMI
Don’t have one million for an average one bedroom go to San Diego.
3
@Ralph Petrillo Actually a one bedroom condo in San Diego runs about $175-$200k. A two bedroom house about $600k in an ok neighborhood. Rent on an apartment 1 bedroom about $1400 a month.
Perhaps it is just another indication of a profound societal change: away from self reliance/self responsibility to victimhood. In the old days, people would move to better opportunities because they felt they were the only ones responsible for their lives. Now, it is easier to stay put, hang with the familiar and friends, while getting bitter and twisted and blaming "the system" or the "1%" for not having more opportunity right where they are.
10
Or now it is not so beneficial financially. Why would people move if the jobs are not stable, the salary is not good, and move requires significant investment in time, effort and money?
23
@Kurfco A big reason why I’m staying put is to care for my elderly parents, like a lot of gen x. I’m not only responsible for myself, I’m responsible for my parents.
13
@Kurfco Any evidence for your assertion? I'm older, work with a lot of young colleagues, and don't find them any less self-reliant than people were "in the old days".
5
I'm 26 and I've lost track of how many people I went to school with have ventured west to CA, OR, UT, & WA. Great scenery but super expensive and I don't know if any of them could afford to move back. Have to get one of those cushy management jobs which pay for relocation. After student loans, rent, utilities, and retirement savings there isn't much leftover unless you continue to live frugally like a college student.
13
CO has had 700,000 people move here in the last 8 years.
Never thought I'd see this city torn down and every bit of land is packed with new apartment/condo's.
A slow down would be welcome.
27
So long as California remains overpriced, has power outages, wildfires, earthquakes, etc etc, I am sure the trend will continue. I lived in CO way back when before the nightmare traffic. Glad I got to enjoy it the way it once was.
8
Internet availability and remote working also contribute.
11
Age 69 now
5 grade schools, 5 HS, 5 colleges. Parents moved us almost every year. Not military. Even when I moved out from them age 19, I moved rentals almost every year. Then 2 divorces, lost 2 homes. Then bought a condo, 14 years. Hated it.
It became desirable, when it doubled, I sold 3 years ago. It just doubled again. So what!
Moved rural to stay, cheap home, cash, new car, cash.
I will die here, not going to a nursery.
Maybe my heirs will sell or use it. IDK
Dust to dust :)
12
@Lost In America Consider your access to healthcare and emergency services before you put down too many roots.
4
What is leading undergrads who study Political Science to believe that they will find employment as a Political Scientist?
Higher education is so broken.
14
Poli sci is a fantastic major if your desire is to be well educated. And did you miss the part where the guy got a good starter job? His critical thinking skills also learned though his studies will make him a valuable asset!
26
@Tom Many jobs require a college degree only to show that you are educated and capable of sticking to something until you're finished. Businesses want someone who can communicate and they're happy to hire English majors because they can write an understandable memo.
13
Human induced climate change will start having an impact on people relocating in two ways: (1) People will remain where they are if it is an area with a low probability of natural disasters. (2) Or people will be forced to move from areas with a high probability of natural disasters. There is an imminent day of reckoning coming on our coasts and along our rivers.
17
Why should anyone move if it will not improve their Finances, and future opportunities??? Show me the Money, or forget it. Younger People : Don’t Be used and abused. “At Will “ Employment, without a Written Contract, only benefits the Employers.
Better to stay where you are, and also get a part-time gig. Speaking from Experience, mine and many others.
Seriously.
11
A lot of hate has surfaced since Trump’s election; and judging from social media, some people are not shy about voicing their disdain for people who move to their state from other states and countries.
It would be interesting to see what effect, if any, this percolating hate towards perceived “outsiders” has on people’s willingness to move.
5
No one can afford to move. No one can Oxford new housing, moving costs. No one can afford the risk of a new job and losing healthcare. America is a third world.
22
People used to move for opportunities. Maybe this means there aren't any.
86
The economy is generally strong (at least it appears that way albeit looks do fool) so there is little need to pull up stakes and seek greener pastures elsewhere.
Except for retiring baby boomers seeking to downsize etc. most demographic groups seem quite satisfied and settled right now.
Or maybe just stuck.
1
I won’t move and I barely travel these days. I fear Trump will cause some sort of national security issue and I would rather remain around people and places I know. Every day Trump remains in office is a threat to our national security.
20
Here in California, one major contributing factor is Prop. 13, which makes it difficult to sell one house and buy another within the state without incurring a large increase in property tax. It would be interesting to see the break-down of rates by state.
13
@Gregory In California you can transfer your property tax saving to your new house if you buy a house for relatively the same value as your old house. You don't incur an increase in your property tax thereby.
.Many people don't realize that they can only exempt $250K in gains (or $500K if married). In the past, you could defer gains indefinitely if you bought a similar or more expensive home. While this seems like a lot of money, in many urban areas the gains would exceed this amount if you lived in your house for more than a few years. Faced with a tax bill (and being able to avoid the gains tax entirely when the house passes to your beneficiaries) is a compelling argument for staying put.
13
@Jsailor "While this seems like a lot of money..."...well, it is (up to $500K married and tax deductible--or is that tax free?--either way, not too shabby)...
1
@Jim
Tax deferred but tax free for your beneficiaries. Definitely a good deal for them. I preferred the old system which allowed you to move without a tax penalty. Some of us seniors would be better off in a one level house but I guess that's what happens if you don't think you will ever get old.
Further driving the demographics of moving — or not moving — is the issue of politics. I know many people who are inclined to move from the expensive Northeast, but they are loath to relocate to a Red State. Even though housing is demonstrably cheaper and there might be more available jobs, many feel the trade-off in swapping a Liberal state for a Conservative one is anathema to their thinking. In the current political climate, it’s just not appealing at all.
69
@H. Clark
Moving from Florida to Oregon was like a breath of fresh air.
20
@H. Clark Some states that seem cheaper aren't. Oklahoma has property taxes smack in the middle of the US average, but the state also has an income tax and sales tax on all groceries. If you eat, taxes can really multiply. Salaries are low, taxes are high.
9
@Linda
You've discovered the secret to all those (invariably) red "no income tax" states. Congratulations!
8
Okay, I admit it. I'm a boomer. Now in my 60s, and mostly retired, my wife and I who are college educated moved all over the country as well as a few countries pursuing our careers in from the late 1970s until today. The longest we stayed in one state was six years.
My perspective is that it is only partially the economy why the post boomer generations are less mobile. There is a profound cultural difference between the generations and how we were each raised. My parents were from the greatest generation, and I did not have the kind of relationship with my parents in the 50s and 60s that the latch-key kids of the 70s and 80s did with their parents.
My "Okay Boomer" generation was raised to be far more independent at an earlier age, there were no helicopter parents where I grew up. I think from the time I got my first paying job at the age of nine as a paper boy delivering papers every day of the week before going off to school my parents were pretty unaware of where I was most of the time. I had fantastic parents, they were there when we needed them, but they let us live our lives for ourselves on our terms from a very young age.
When I was in my 20s and beyond, I would not think twice about moving across the country or the world if I thought it would help my career, or if the cost of living in the next place was expensive or not. It was all about building employability, options, and professional value, and location just wasn't that important.
19
@Shend Well, when you stop patting yourself on the back for your great achievements, acknowledge that things are much more difficult today than they used to be. College was much more accessible and affordable back in the day, housing much cheaper and the competition less crazy. A bit more understanding please.
47
@Alienist
Shend, however, isn't wrong in stating that Gen X and Millennials are far more dependent, financially and socially, on their parents than Baby Boomers.
6
@Shend I think the article makes it clear that lack of opportunity and housing costs has more to do with why people aren't moving.
10
If you have less financial security you will naturally seek other forms of security like family networks.
That said, Seattle must really be bucking the trend because someone moves in or out of my kids' classes every month it seems.
1
@L Austin, too. Everyone is moving here.
A lot of jobs for millennials are in are in areas like Boston, NY, San Francisco and big cities where cost of living and rents are too high and do not offset the compensation packages. So the millennials stay put in places where they can make ends meet and where quality housing is affordable and expenses like parking and insurance is not too high. The other trend lately is many millennials can work from home using the fast internet. That saves commuting time and fuel costs and less stress stuck in traffic. With low unemployment jobs are spread all around the country and millennials can live close to their loved ones and school and college friends.
The only reason to move would be better paying jobs or less tax burden and so there has been movement to Florida, Texas, Tennessee where there is no state taxes and plenty of wide open spaces.
9
As a professional person I have already moved 9 times in my life, but eventually settled in California , where both my wife and myself managed to have good standard of living. There are some negative aspects of the place we settled now, both related to our works and geographical location, but for now we decided to stay. We have friends here and assimilated to local community.Grass always seem to be greener somewhere else, but we have few friends who left place we live now and regretted it.Although root causes of decreased mobility may not necessary be positive, overall I thing that belonging to one place have lots of positives, both for community and personal life. We are also tired of loosing friend who left in search of better life (more money) in other places, so we are happy that overall mobility in USA is decreasing.
7
I can see if this is a bad thing if it is for economic reasons, but overall there is nothing particularly good about people moving.
Staying put means maintaining family ties and long standing friendships. People who stay put are the cornerstone of stable communities.
While a more flexible workforce has economic benefits, there are many human benefits to living in one place for a long time, especially if that place is near friends and family.
We do not value family and community enough in this country. Our culture, our health, and our happiness suffers for it.
43
@A F — I totally agree with this statement. Most of my extended family still lives within about 50 miles of where they grew up, while my siblings and I moved further away. We all have decent lives, but my extended family have more of the benefits of family and with their community of birth. That’s not something to knock.
2
I know people who would like to move but either cannot afford it or cannot leave their health insurance. The absence of universal health insurance keeps people in place; discouraging both moving and entrepreneurship.
120
I as well, am staying put. In the 70's, 80's, 90's and up to 2007 when I made my final move, (to retire in Montana), everything seemed more 'fluid', with more possibilities available through change. San Francisco, Seattle and then New York City, all offered new hope and (for me), successes in both careers as well as housing. Those were different times, and long ago. There is no way now that I could afford the housing and locacles that I had then, they're beyond the reach of the average person, which I was during those times. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have lived where I lived as well as the times that I lived them!
34
It seems reminiscent of Venice in the 16th century, after it's economy was destroyed by the abuses of the wealthy, and the subsequent decline of the middle class.
31
We moved to the Bay Area 4 years ago, and it's been a really tough process. On the plus side, we both got great, high-paying, high-responsibility jobs that are unique to this region. Given the wonderful supply of cutting-edge jobs here, it's unfortunate that more of my fellow citizens haven't moved here. The reason that they don't is that California hates immigrants in practice, even as it professes to love them in theory. Because of Prop 13 and restrictive zoning and development laws, housing for new immigrants costs more than anywhere else in the country here. Meanwhile, because of NIMBYism and Prop 13, our infrastructure is worse than many developing country counterparts, meaning that it's surpassingly difficult to get anywhere, particularly from home to work. Meanwhile, California has the nation's most onerous occupational licensing laws, and severely limits reciprocity.
In a well-functioning economy, the Bay Area would be welcoming immigrants from all over the country seeking better economic prospects. In practice, our region's and state's horrific governance has made it surpassingly difficult to move here as an immigrant. The net effect is to harm immigrants who choose to move to the Bay, while deterring people from the rest of the country from moving here for a better life. The fault is on us and our political leaders.
35
@David Interesting perspective. From which country did you immigrate? California may be harder for emigrants, but in practice, we have the highest population of immigrants in the nation, so I'm not sure I can agree with your notion that we "hate" them. If you look at sheer numbers--40-plus million of us in this state--that might explain more than your analysis with regard to pricing. I do agree, though, that Prop. 13 has had a major impact on our housing market.
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@David
Zoning isn't just about the amount of land available. You can overcome that by building up (NIMBYs make this difficult, but that's a political problem not a physical one).
Other things contributing to to zoning restrictions: water availability, transportation grid, services, wildfire. And in the future: coastal flooding due to sea level rise. You could conceivably work around transportation and services limitations by vastly re-configuring existing infrastructure (eminent domain, anyone? you think we have NIMBY problems now?) and more aggressively building/promoting/forcing mass transit. You could fix the water problem with desal, but there are tremendous problems with that (energy costs, salt waste disposal). Wildfires can be slowed down with better vegetation management but that can cause erosion, harm native species (do we really need to replace more California biota for more people?), and is expensive.
So just crying "NIMBY!!!!" is not helpful.
tbh, I wish the country would invest in rural broadband and services in OTHER states. Plenty of people would leave California if we could create good jobs and attractive communities in other places. Not everyone has to live in California.
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@qu We cannot "fix" the water scarcity for the nation, with desal any more than we can "fix" petroleum availability with fracking.
Both are unrealistic, require high energy sources and pollute the environment.
Fracking puts in more energy units than it extracts: it's used for corporate write-offs
Cities are the engines of economic growth that's why 80% of US citizens live in cities today compared to 4% 200 years ago. This reduced movement situation is evidence of an urbanisation life cycle problem. The velocity of growth of US cities has slowed down. The US is mature.
We've also seen an increased availability of cheap unskilled labour in other countries meaning reduced demand for unskilled workers at home. Supply and demand. Macroeconomics mean the US will struggle to accelerate economic growth, as a result of its maturity, and low skilled workers won't be able to afford to live in prime city locations because they are no longer needed there in large numbers.
The lesson here: do not be an unskilled worker.
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I'm 26 and I'm finally able to move out of my parents' house, just barely. I'm moving somewhere in the same city, but closer to my job.
Moving out, however, presents a huge opportunity cost. I am excited to have my own space, and more privacy. I'm not excited, however, about the inevitable worry that will consume me when I need to pay bills. I am already worried that I might not have enough to pay rent, and credit card bills, and student loans, and for consistent meals. I'm worried I'll have to ask my parents for help, or that I'll simply not be able to do it all for the entire 15-month lease.
To top it off, in order to pay rent, I won't be able to buy a car, new clothes (as I'm losing weight and will need a new wardrobe soon), new shoes, and all sorts of other necessities. One may ask why I'm even moving, but I truly feel I will be more at peace in my own space. You reach a time when, despite how much you love them, you can no longer live with your parents :)
I make a decent amount of money, but clearly not enough to just exist. There are tons of other people in my age group who are struggling to exist in the same way. Rents have grown exponentially in the past 5 years even, and my salary has grown at a snail's pace in comparison.
This is a bubble that will surely burst. Can't say I'm thrilled about the impending downfall of the U.S. economy, but I'm definitely looking forward to the cheaper rents.
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@Ashley B. My mother lived with her parents after college until her marriage in 1955. My father served in Korea then came home to live with his parents. I lived with my parents after college graduation until I married 6 months later.
If my adult children wanted to
live with us, I might expect them to split utility costs, but we are paying the mortgage regardless of how many people are in the house. I do think parents need to understand that their adult sons and daughters are no longer children and should be treated the same as if a close friend or sibling moved in. Likewise, adult children need to behave as adults. But for most of history, multigenerational families under one roof have been the norm
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@Ashley B.
Your worries are legitimate and, as a Gen Xer, I am sorry that we older generations failed to ensure people like you could graduate college debt free and afford decent housing. Brava to you for taking the risk in moving, despite the possible challenges! Sometimes things turn out better than expected and I wish you the best in luck with your journey.
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@Ashley B. What are you talking about? The economy is doing great, salaries are going through the roof, you got an enormous tax cut, inflation is at an all time low, you should be raking in the dough!
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I normally move about every 4-5 years, and have done that almost all my life. I bought a second home, a fixer-upper, in MA in 2003 and turned it around, moving there in late 2005. But in 2007, the housing market crashed and my house has yet to approach the appraised value of a early 2007 appraisal before the crash. I'm trapped.
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I'm surprised to hear that young educated people are moving less than before. Most of my peers (highly educated professionals in their 20s and 30s) have moved almost constantly in response to job opportunities. My husband and I have moved 5 times in the last 7 years alone. In contrast, my working class friends from my home state haven't moved more than a dozen miles. They'll complain about the lack of jobs and opportunities and demand that politicians "bring back jobs" but there seems to be a real psychological barrier to moving. I disagree that the lack of flop houses or cheap acommodation is the problem. Thanks to craigslist and couchsurfing and air bnb its incredibly easy to find cheap and trashy housing if you want to get your foot in the door in a new place. It's how highly educated people manage to do internships in new cities.
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One factor clearly to blame: the ridiculously high realtor fees for buying/selling homes.
To loose 6% (3% to each agent) of your biggest principal asset is *far* too much, and a real roadblock on anyone's desire to switch apartments, unless the really have to.
(It is also WAY above other countries. In the UK it's around 1 to 1.25%. Likewise France and most of Europe)
6% when apt prices were low in the 1960s/70s might have been acceptable, but not anymore. Time for a rethink realtors - your practice has become a closed shop and huge drag on the market. It's self defeating. I own a nice Manhattan apt, but will not consider moving, until total transaction fees have come down to more modest levels.
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@Narikin I’d caveat that with ‘You get what you pay for’. In the last 2 years I’ve sold my apartment in London, UK and bought in Portland Oregon. The property buying experience in the US is far, far superior to the UK. Professional vs Amateur-hour. Hand on heart - The US property buying experience is a dream compared to the UK. Happy to pay the extra for great service.
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@Narikin
Not enough people even attempt to negotiate that fee. You can.
Unless this is your first buy, you have some experience. Is there anything you can do yourself and are willing to; and ask your agent to shave his or her percentage?
Do you even need an agent on your end, or can you sell/buy the house yourself and ask for a fee reduction to get assistance with the final paperwork?
I know several people and have myself, negotiated the percentage down.
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@BobShaw
I’ll take the UK and the 1.25% realtor fee hands down over the 6% rip off we have going on here. I can’t move now largely because of it and the additional fees which essentially puts you at a horrifying 10% gouge. My husband and I have bought and sold two homes in the UK and bought 2 and sold 1 in the US. Sure, in the UK you have to put some labor in and show your own place to the prospective buyers and getting the local council requirements done can be a drag but, oh my, I have yet to meet a US realtor I can tolerate. That 6% has them always in your hair trying to get you to liquidate half your stuff and shoving other handy info your way. Plus, in the UK everything sells pretty much ‘as is’ whereas here you are supposed to make your home look like you haven’t lived in it. It’s a bloody nightmare!
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This isn't necessarily bad news. Fewer people moving also means more stability within neighborhoods and communities.
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If funny you mention this. With consideration to another article I read about resident parking and the end to free parking spaces (the right’s argument that NYC has a war on cars), I was discussing with my wife of what the mass ownership of automobiles beginning in the 50’s contributed to white flight and the abandonment of city neighborhoods. Could it be that people want to now be local and on foot rather than be trap in a car or train for three plus hours a day?
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I've only lived in two houses since 1982 and the second one was only one block away. I have never liver in any other city and never desired to do so. I have watch many people move like nomads across our country but for me I enjoy where I live and the feeling of having roots.
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The cost of childcare has also exploded. It is also really hard to find a place that is accepting more children that doesn’t have a waitlist. The financial benefit of having family and longtime friends to help with childcare is an enormous disincentive from moving.
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I think this is the real reason people with young kids don’t/can’t move far from their parents. Most families need two incomes and childcare is ridiculously expensive.
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Intentionally building a network of friends and colleagues of substance after the easy/frequent friendships of college takes years and is a major reason that my young family has happily stayed in our small city for 8+ years. Strong local networks have also landed us better jobs with the added luxury of rooting and all of its Wendell Berry-lauded benefits--intimate familiarity with landscape, ecology, growing seasons, local culture, history, heck, even the housing market is a local beast that we know well. While we often wistfully look at other areas of the country with lower housing costs and daydream of easier lives there (MI Upper Peninsula, rebounding Rust Belt cities), we have a real estate foothold in a popular college city and projections only show more folks trying to move to places like ours. Moving now is equivalent to forfeiting wealth and more importantly the myriad intangible benefits of rooting.
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I'm not sure that I agree with the cause and effect argument made here. If rents "have exploded", wouldn't that motivate some people to move away from those high costs to lower rents?
I am more apt to believe that the population is older and therefore, on average, more likely to stay put.
Also, I see many young people who seem so depressed by their perceptions of what opportunities exists that they don't believed that they really can move for advancement. Some of it is real - some it just malaise.
Opportunity may not knock, you may have to go find it... it really is out there.
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well there has to be a job where the lower rents are, right?
3
In California, Proposition 13 can create the disincentive to move from the prospect of reassessment. My house has more than doubled in value since we bought in 2002. Any "move up" property would probably more than double my property taxes.
Couple that with the cap on SALT deductions, and my house has become a golden cage until I can retire in six or seven years and figure out what, if anything, to do next.
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@CS this is key. Property will continue being unaffordable as those who have entry or mid-level homes are trapped by insane property taxes, so stay where they are. Those wanting to buy might be able to stretch to the mortgage payments but the property tax breaks the camels back.
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@CS this is key. Property will continue being unaffordable as those who have entry or mid-level homes are trapped by insane property taxes, so stay where they are. Those wanting to buy might be able to stretch to the mortgage payments but the property tax breaks the camels back.
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Thanks for the (perhaps inadvertent) plug for the Youngstown area. I bought my house (1,500 sq ft on nearly .5 acre) in 2013 for $88k. There are few other places in the US that housing in good condition with quiet neighborhoods is anywhere near affordable. We still are!
Just got back from NYC where I’ve no idea how anyone affords to buy (or even rent) on an average salary.
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@NKB , The value of quiet can be pretty high to people. Open space is another priceless item big cities don't have at affordable prices.
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Moving for a job is more problematic when that job may not exist for long. As people are mostly risk averse (often with good reason) it can be hard to "work without a net".
Part of this, ironically, is it is really cheap to move about. I can be in NY or DC in a few hours if I need or want to be. Cars are amazingly reliable and cheap to operate. Cell phones make calling a tow truck or highway patrol a breeze. A lot of work can be done online or otherwise away from an office.
Fewer jobs are worth moving for and many jobs do not require moving. This may explain much of the difference.
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After they were married, my parents lived in three states and had 4 new homes and 2 new vacation homes in total. My mother had 3 additional new homes when she remarried after being widowed. It takes optimism, hard work and the willingness to start over.
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Not surprised! The unaffordability crisis often means that many simply can't afford to uproot and relocate, even for a 10 -20 % raise. That still doesn't make up for the skyrocketed housing costs in the areas that have a strong economy. This is a very bad development, and has probably already slowed down our economic growth.
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Upfront fixed cost is too high. It's a general trend in the current economy that switching cost is high for many service. It started out with frequent miles, which made people stick to one airline, and indirectly a certain set of geography.
Then utilities start charging one-time fees to open or close a service account. Some even charge one month in advance. Others only close accounts at month ends.
Rental used to be available on local newspaper and only a few select cities required hiring a broker. Now rentals often list on a listing site that requires some subscription charge and application fees for each listing.
Buying home is even harder because of the high prices, broker fees, and loan fees.
Even governmental affairs are becoming complicated with the onset of RealID that requires two documents to prove residence. Healthcare for some is also dependent on states. And the year one makes a move between states, taxes get very complicated.
With all these little costs adding up, it makes perfect sense to stay put.
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In addition to all that was mentioned in the article, the TCJA tax package has removed the tax deductibility of moving expenses. Do not discount the effect that this has already had on business related moves. Businesses are adjusting their own behavior and are only putting forth moving benefits for the most in demand employees (the best and the brightest). The rest are left to their own devices to move themselves (also no longer deductible).
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Now that more people are working from home, there is no longer as much of a need to relocate for a job. Some positions require physical presence in the workplace but a lot don't. I still don't understand why Amazon needed a second HQ building. It should have set the pace for a virtual HQ and gone brick-and-mortar free on the east coast.
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@Lynn in DC Some of the talent Amazon wanted refused to move to Seattle.
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@stache But why couldn't that talent just telework from anywhere USA? We have video conferencing for meetings and SharePoint for documents. People can work anywhere.
As someone who did move in 2018, and lives multiple states away from my family, it's only possible because of the financial support I receive from my family. I couldn't afford to live the way I do on my salary without help from my parents.
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Plus, if I’m not mistaken, Trump took away the tax deductions for moving. If the government wants people to move they should put that deductions back in.
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It is all relative. Although you may be technically correct, there is still widespread movement of young people from the rural areas, burbs to big cities.
In NYC alone, the change has been dramatic in many areas.
5
And everyone from Brooklyn has moved to Montclair. I'm ready to move to Brooklyn just to get away from these invading hordes. I wouldn't mind young professionals, the problem is that they all get pregnant. Multiple times.
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@Stephanie Wood ... and tons of Brooklyn people moving to CT.
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@Stephanie Wood and Rufus, thank you for you replies. Yes there is some truth in what you are saying.
The point being is that people are still moving. The headline makes it sound like people are not venturing two blocks away from their houses.
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So many places are congested, and most of those places are expensive, too. The few cheap places to live aren't appealing, for a variety of reasons.
The going is simply harder for most of us these days.
Less congestion everywhere would likely encourage people to move.
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It is true that the suburbs of Cleveland are very low cost of living and beautiful (Shaker Heights is gorgeous). If you have a good job here, there is no reason to move and there are increasingly a lot of good paying jobs in the area.
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Mostly it's just too expensive to move and pay all the related start-up costs. Just a sign of the struggling economy that the media says we are supposed to believe is booming.
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@JaneK Trump tells us it's booming. Not just the media just reports stats.
I think there is a philosophical reason for the data. Millennials seem to understand that "everywhere is equally somewhere," and that living in NYC or California is not a prerequisite to achieving a meaningful existence. There also may be a long overdue realization that family truly is everything- no amount of success can replace it.
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@Anderson Except for many young men and women family holds a different meaning and getting away from them becomes the highest priority. Yes, that is a profoundly sad statement but it is the truth. Physical, emotional and sexual abuse often happen at home. Adverse Childhood Experiences often revolve about brokenness in the family. If you doubt me, here are statistics offered by the CDC.
https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/acestudy/about.html
Often, the best thing a young person can do for themselves is create distance from their family... by moving.
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@Anderson It wouldn't matter whether we thought it was a prerequisite or not. We can't afford to move anyway.
Or more likely, we already moved, and are now stuck scraping by at our place in jobs with no advancement. "Everywhere in equally somewhere" indeed, when everywhere is mediocre.
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@Anderson
Well, I live in Seattle and our population is exploding with millennials who are eagerly accepting jobs with Amazon, Microsoft and other tech firms. Same thing is true in SF, Austin, etc. Millennials with less marketable skills may be staying put, but that might not be because of love of mom and dad, grandma and grandpa.
8
I think most people are aware that large firms "rationalize" their salary structure across locations, so that any differences in wages reflect only differences in the cost of living. Many firms are completely upfront about what they're doing when speaking with their own employees. Basically, if neither you nor your spouse is getting a substantial promotion (or a job that is unavailable in your current location), moving will probably not pay off financially in the near term and you will lose your social/support networks in the process.
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I don’t believe this necessarily to be the case with professional jobs in NYC or other comparable large cities. Yes, higher salaries are met with higher prices for rent, food and transportation. However, any amount that you save with a NYC salary can be applied at an advantage to some non-local costs. For example, $20,000 in student loans is the same amount in every state, but you will likely have more ability to pay it off on a NYC professional salary, than, say in a Des Moines, Iowa salary. At least that was my experience.
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@R Stiegel It's interesting that you should cite NYC as an example. My son works for a big four accounting firm. When exploring the option of living in NYC and working for that firm, he was explicitly told that his salary would be higher in nominal terms, but that it differed from salaries in any of their other locations only by the variation in living expenses. And since we're talking accountants here, they had it down to the decimal points. Of course this was an early-career position being discussed, not a partner position. If you're already high level, you may be able to leverage your experience to get a higher salary.
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@R Stiegel I agree. And it's not like there aren't poor people making it work in big cities. I moved to NYC, rented a tiny room in a shared apt in an uncool working class suburb for less than I'd paid in rural America, and earned double what I'd previously earned because I was in NYC. Plus I didn't have to pay for a car, a huge cost saving. It was great. And I had fun doing it, too.
9