The Biggest Darn Migration Tool You’ve Ever Used
ACS State Annual Net Migrate Rates by Age, Income, or Education
I’ve written many times before about the importance of disaggregating migration by various demographic categories. Recently, I took the time to string together ACS data from 2007–2014 on annual net migration rates for every state, for each year, broken out by age, income, and educational groups. I don’t have a specific use for this data, and it doesn’t really belong to me, so I wanted to find a way to make it more generally available. Using the data visualization platform Silk, I was able to put all the data into a user-friendly tool.
To my knowledge, there’s nowhere else where you can explore the data I’ve put together as easily as you can here. Please feel free to use the data for whatever you like, but I’d appreciate it if you could at least mention me if you do, as it feels good to actually get to see my work used somewhere.
All data used is unadjusted American Community Survey 1-Year Sample data pulled using the Census Factfinder. No consideration of margin of error or statistical significance has been made.
Without further ado, the data:
Migration by Age
One of the most useful ways of decomposing migration data is by age. Migration is closely tied to the economic life cycle, and thus decomposition by age tends to reveal significant relationships between a specific economic geography and migration networks. Below, I have the example of Colorado. We can see that Colorado has strongly positive migration for 18 and 19-year-olds (college freshmen), as well as 20-somethings, alongside moderately positive flows for 30-somethings. But flows are more negative for older workers.
I haven’t shown it here, but if you check out the visualization (click on the title of this section or the heart in the top right corner of the graph), you can also compare lots of states for a given age group. Go knock yourself out.
Migration by Income
Another key question in migration relates to income. Many policymakers have concerns about the “migration of money.” Others worry about gentrification. Whatever the validity of such concerns, we can in fact look at how migration varies by individual income for individuals over 15 years of age. Below, as an example, I have Florida. As for age, you can also compare several states for given income ranges.
Migration by Educational Attainment
Finally, I’ve put together migration rates by educational attainment for the population 25 and older. You can see below the rates for Georgia, where migration of the highly-educated is becoming more negative, while migration of the less educated is becoming more positive. Again, you can explore this data by clicking the title, and compare whichever states and flows you like.
The Value of Data
I started this blog with a purpose: I wanted to elevate the level of discussion about migration in policy circles. As part of that, I’ve made a concerted effort to offer useful, understandable, and compelling data, while debunking poor interpretations of the data. As I said in my very first post:
Migration matters for Americans. International migration gets all the press– but migration within our borders is actually a bigger phenomenon, and that’s just at the state level. If we look at migration of people within states, the number grows even larger.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be presenting some information about the state of American migration. Where Americans are going, and why they do so, is changing. If we want vibrant cities, strong economies, healthy communities, a culture of opportunity, and a truly connected nation, we need to understand migration better. I hope my writing here can be a useful signpost along the way.
This post, while brief, I see as one of the single most useful steps I can take in achieving the goal of providing “a useful signpost.” Instead of having to wade through complex ACS data and use many-tabbed spreadsheets, anybody interested in learning about what types of people their states gains or loses can just look at the Silk pages I’ve set up.
Here’s hoping it helps!
See my previous post, announcing my new Podcast and presenting my recent foray into historical research.
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I’m a graduate of the George Washington University’s Elliott School with an MA in International Trade and Investment Policy, and an economist at USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. I like to learn about migration, the cotton industry, airplanes, trade policy, space, Africa, and faith. I’m married to a kickass Kentucky woman named Ruth.
My posts are not endorsed by and do not in any way represent the opinions of the United States government or any branch, department, agency, or division of it. My writing represents exclusively my own opinions. I did not receive any financial support or remuneration from any party for this research. More’s the pity.