Getty Images/EyeEm

After 40 years of steady declines in domestic migration, mobility has hit a new all-time low The United States has historically been a country with a high rate of mobility, as cities used their unique job markets to attract new residents, and young couples bought new houses to accommodate children. But this might be changing.
That?s according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau that show domestic migration has hit a new all-time low in 2019 of 9.8 percent of the population. This follows decades of steady declines. During the 1960s, 20 percent of Americans moved to a new residence each year. In 2019, less than 10 percent of Americans did.
And while the drivers of these declines have evolved and changed through the years, the current drop is being driven by millennials, who are delaying life stages that typically prompt someone to move, such as buying a house, getting married, and having kids. ?The national trend [of declines in domestic migration] is especially reflected among millennials or young adults,? said William Frey of the Brookings Institute. ?That?s what?s driving the real overall decline in migration.?

Looking at the data around moving broken down by distance, there are declines in each category?moves within a county, moves out of a county, moves out of state, and moves coming in from outside the United States?but moves within a county show the biggest decline.
And that decline is most pronounced among renters. In 1997, 32.9 perc...