P70-66 1

U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration

U.S. Census Bureau, the Official StatisticsTM October 1, 1998

Current Population Reports

Household Economic Studies

Seasonality of Moves and Duration of Residence

By Kristin A. Hansen

C E N S U S B U R E A U P70-66

Issued October 1998

Introduction however, asked people who were appear to prefer to move in the

at least 15 years old for the month summer when the weather is America is an extremely mobile and year they moved into both good and children are not in nation. Every year, millions of their current and previous resi- school. Some moves may be people in the United States pack dences. timed to coincide with the end or up and move to a different home. the beginning of the school year. Two often-asked questions about The data on seasonality of moves The months of June, about the this mobility are the time of the contained in this report have been time most schools let out, and year when most moves occur– tabulated by the characteristics of August, just before they start seasonality of moves–and the movers at the time the survey was again, have the largest percent- length of time that people stay in conducted. Some characteristics ages of people changing resi- one place–duration of residence. such as owner/renter status (also dence. July and September have This report, using data collected in known as tenure), household rela- the next highest percentages. the Survey of Income and Program tionship, income, education, and Nearly half of all moves (48.4 per- Participation, gives us a look at employment status may have been cent ) take place during the four these two topics. different at the time of the move months of June through Septem- than at the survey date. The Seasonality of Moves ber; about 60 percent are in June survey did not collect data on the through October. After October Seasonality of moving, that is, characteristics of people at the moving rates decline significantly. time they moved. how mobility varies from month to In many areas, the winter weather month, is important to schools and Moving is concentrated in conditions make moving an un- many businesses but these data the summer months. popular event; rates are much are rarely collected in surveys. lower in November through May. The 1993 Survey of Income and Moves are not evenly distributed

Program Participation (SIPP), throughout the year. Most people

Figure 1.

Distribution of Moves by Month

(Percent of all moves)

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, SIPP, 1993
2 P70-66

U.S. Census Bureau, the Official StatisticsTM October 1, 1998

2 Table 1. Percent of Movers by Month of Move, Race and Hispanic Origin, Nativity, and Tenure

Living in

an Living in a

Month Asian or owner- renterTotal Pacific Hispanic Foreign- occupied occupied

movers White Black Islander origin1 Natives Born unit unit

January . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.9 5.8 5.7 6.8 7.1 5.8 6.8 5.6 6.4

February . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 5.1 5.4 6.8 6.4 4.9 6.6 4.6 6.3

March . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 5.3 5.4 5.4 5.0 5.3 5.3 5.1 5.6

April . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.0 6.0 5.5 6.7 5.6 6.0 5.6 5.8 6.3

May . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5 7.5 7.1 6.7 7.8 7.5 7.2 7.5 7.3

June . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.1 13.2 13.0 12.5 13.0 13.2 12.9 13.2 13.0

July . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 11.2 11.8 10.4 11.2 11.2 10.9 11.2 11.1

August . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.6 12.6 12.4 11.6 11.0 12.8 11.4 12.9 12.0

September . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.5 11.5 11.7 11.5 10.2 11.5 11.7 11.8 11.0

October . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2 10.1 10.6 10.1 10.6 10.2 10.2 10.2 10.0

November . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 6.2 5.6 5.1 5.4 6.2 5.3 6.3 5.6

December . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.6 5.5 5.7 6.3 6.7 5.5 6.3 5.7 5.3

1

Hispanics may be of any race.

2

Tenure is defined as residence in an owner-occupied versus a renter-occupied housing unit.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, SIPP, 1993

Seasonality is not related to The seasonality of moving also those 45 to 64 years old and 13.1

race, ethnicity, nativity, or does not vary significantly for percent of those 65 years and over

tenure. people living in owner-occupied moved in September, compared with

or rented housing units. 10.3 percent of those ages Seasonality of move is not signifi- 15 to 29 years. A similar pattern cantly related to race or Hispanic Age has little effect on the is found for October–with 10.8 origin. Blacks, Whites, and Asian seasonality of moves. percent of those 45 to 64 years and Pacific Islanders all have the Month of move shows little varia- and 11.5 percent of those over 65 highest rates of moving in June tion by age–all age groups are moving, compared with about 9 through October. This same more likely to move during the percent for those under 29. pattern also holds true for people warmer months of June through of Hispanic origin (who may be of October, with the highest rates The presence of children in any race). Likewise, both natives generally in June and August. the household has some

and foreign-born people are more However, older people are more effect on the timing of moves. likely to move during the summer likely to move after school starts months than during the winter. Moving is concentrated in the sum- than are younger–12.5 percent of mer months whether or not children

Figure 2.

Month of Move by

Characteristics

(Percent of all movers)

White

Black Natives

Foreign-Born

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

Asian or Pacific Islander

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, SIPP, 1993
P70-66 3

U.S. Census Bureau, the Official StatisticsTM October 1, 1998

1

The data on seasonality are based on the

month each person moved into their current

residence, as well as the months they moved

into and out of their previous residences.

Moves for which the month was not reported

were dropped. As a result, the totals on which

the percentages are calculated are different for

each characteristic. When available, using the

month of move for both current and previous

residences increases the number of cases and,

thereby, increases reliability and reduces the

sampling error associated with the data. Data

on the presence of children is not available for

previous residence so Table 3 is restricted to

the month of move into the current residence.

2

While the data do not permit a direct calculation

of distance moved, we can estimate the relative

distance by assuming that perople who move

within the same county are moving, on average,

a shorter distance than those moving between

counties, and that those moving between states

or from abroad are moving the longest distance,

on average.

live in the household.1 About 35.6

percent of people in households

without children under 18 moved in

the summer (June, July, or August),

not significantly different from the

34.8 percent for households with

children under 18. However,

households with children do appear to try to avoid moving early in

the school year. Among people in

households with children under 18,

only 19.0 percent moved in September or October–compared with

21.3 percent for people in households without children.

Seasonality effects are

greater for longer distance

moves.

As the relative distance of moves

increases, moves become increasingly concentrated in the summer

(June, July, and August).2 Rates

of moving in the three summer

months increase from 34.8 percent

for those moving within the same

county, to 35.9 percent for those

moving between counties in the

same state, and to 41.0 percent

for those making interstate or international moves.

If September is added to the three

summer months, about equal percentages move within or between

counties in the same state–about

46 percent. However, over half of

interstate or international moves

(54.0 percent) took place in that

4-month period.

Table 2. Percent of Movers by Month of Move and Age

Month

Total 15

years

and

over

15 to

19

years

20 to

29

years

30 to

44

years

45 to

64

years

65 years

and over

January ..................

February .................

March ...................

April .....................

May . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

June .....................

July .....................

August ...................

September ...............

October ..................

November ................

December ................

5.9

5.2

5.3

6.0

7.5

13.1

11.2

12.6

11.5

10.2

6.1

5.6

6.0

5.8

5.8

7.0

8.5

12.5

10.5

12.3

10.3

9.4

5.6

6.2

6.5

6.3

5.3

6.7

8.8

13.0

10.0

12.2

10.3

9.1

5.7

6.2

6.1

5.5

5.6

6.0

7.8

13.0

10.9

12.5

11.0

9.8

6.2

5.6

5.4

4.3

5.0

5.6

6.8

13.3

11.9

12.9

12.5

10.8

6.3

5.2

5.4

4.4

4.8

5.3

5.9

13.6

12.2

12.8

13.1

11.5

6.0

5.1

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, SIPP, 1993

Table 3. Percent of Movers by Month of Move into Current

Residence by Presence of Children under 18 in the

Household

Month Total 15 years

and over

Living in households without

children under

18 years old

Living in households with

children under

18 years old

January .....................

February .....................

March . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

April . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

May . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

June ........................

July . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

August ......................

September ...................

October .....................

November ...................

December ...................

5.9

5.6

5.6

6.6

8.0

12.3

10.8

12.3

10.8

9.6

6.7

5.7

6.0

5.3

5.6

6.5

7.8

12.4

11.1

12.1

11.3

10.0

6.6

5.3

5.8

6.2

5.7

6.8

8.3

12.0

10.2

12.6

9.9

9.1

7.0

6.5

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, SIPP, 1993.

Table 4. Percent of Movers by Month of Move and Type of Move

Month of move

Total

Same State

Different

state Abroad

Same

Total county

Different

county

January ..................

February .................

March . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

April . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

May . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

June .....................

July . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

August ...................

September ...............

October ..................

November ................

December ................

5.9

5.0

5.2

5.7

7.2

13.4

11.3

12.7

11.8

10.4

5.8

5.5

6.0

5.4

5.7

6.4

8.2

12.7

10.6

11.7

11.0

9.6

6.9

5.9

5.7

5.4

5.7

6.6

8.3

12.3

10.6

11.9

11.1

9.7

6.8

6.0

7.0

5.2

5.7

5.9

7.8

14.2

10.8

10.9

10.3

9.1

7.3

5.7

5.4

4.2

4.3

4.6

5.7

15.0

12.5

14.6

13.2

11.5

4.3

4.7

7.1

5.3

5.3

5.1

6.3

12.8

11.7

11.7

12.2

11.6

4.8

6.0

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, SIPP, 1993.
4 P70-66

U.S. Census Bureau, the Official StatisticsTM October 1, 1998

Duration of Residence durations can be calculated for

various age groups (age is recal- The average length of time people culated to the age at the time the live in a home is also of interest. person moved into their current For this report, duration of resi- residence) and by gender, race, dence is the length of time each Hispanic origin, and tenure person 15 years old and over has (whether people are living in an lived in his or her current home. owner or renter-occupied housing Duration is calculated by counting unit). Data on duration by tenure the number of months between the is limited to the current residence date they moved into their current because the survey does not residence and the date the survey collect tenure status for the previ- was administered and then round- ous residence. ing to the nearest year. Median

Median duration in current

residence is 5.2 years.

Duration of residence is the length

of time that people have lived in

their current residence. This is not

a measure of how long they will

live in a residence since we do not

know how much longer they will

continue to reside in the unit occupied at the time of the SIPP interview. In this survey, we found that

the median duration that people

had lived in their current residence

was 5.2 years.3 This means that

half of all people 15 years and over

had lived there longer–and half

had lived there a shorter time–than

the median of 5.2 years.

Fifteen percent have lived in

the same house 20 or more

years.

The United States is often

described as a geographically

mobile nation in which 43 million,

or 16.7 percent of the population,

moves each year.4 Duration of

3SIPP asks questions only of people 15 and over

at the time of the survey. However, the data on

duration of residence have been tabulated for

people whose recalculated age at the time they

moved into their current residence was 15 years

old and over.

4Hansen, Kristin A., "Geographical Mobility:

March 1993 to March 1994", U.S. Bureau of the

Census, Current Population Reports, P20-

487, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC 20233, 1995.

Table 5. Duration in Current Residence by Tenure

Duration Total 15 years

and over

Living in

an owneroccupied unit

Living in

a renteroccupied unit

Total1 ...........................

Less than 1 year ................

1 year ..........................

2 years .........................

3 years .........................

4 years .........................

5 years .........................

6 years .........................

7 years .........................

8 years .........................

9 years .........................

10 years ........................

11 to 15 years ...................

16 to 20 years ...................

21 to 30 years ...................

31 to 40 years ...................

More than 40 years ..............

Median (years) ..................

100.0

11.9

14.6

9.4

7.1

6.0

4.9

4.1

3.4

3.3

2.0

2.4

9.0

6.7

8.4

4.4

2.5

5.2

100.0

6.4

8.9

7.0

6.5

6.0

5.4

4.7

4.1

3.9

2.4

2.9

11.3

9.1

11.6

6.3

3.5

8.2

100.0

22.9

26.0

14.1

8.2

6.0

3.9

2.9

2.2

2.0

1.1

1.4

4.4

2.1

1.9

0.8

0.4

2.1

1

Persons 15 years old and over when they moved into their current residence.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, SIPP, 1993.

Figure 3.

Median Duration by Tenure and Age

(Percent of the total)

Median duration in years

Total 15 years and over

Living in an owner-occupied unit

Living in a renter-occupied unit

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, SIPP, 1993

30

25

20

15

10

0

5

<1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11-15 16-20 21-30 31-40 40 +
P70-66 5

U.S. Census Bureau, the Official StatisticsTM October 1, 1998

residence shows that almost as significant difference in the medians

high a proportion 15.3 percent for those under the age of 25, the

have lived in the same house for median duration rises with increasmore than 20 years. ing age for those over 25. Renters

who are 65 years old or older have Renters have shorter the highest median–4.0 years com- durations of residence pared with 2.1 years for all renters. than homeowners.

There is no difference in median People who rent their home tend to duration by age for people in owner- have lived in their residence for a occupied units, except for teenagers shorter time than homeowners–a and seniors. Regardless of age median duration in their current group, those between the ages of residences of only 2.1 years, com- 20 and 64 had lived in their current pared with 8.2 years for people residences for about 9 years. Teen- living in owner-occupied housing agers (ages 15 to 19) had much units. This is not surprising–data shorter durations, only 4.4 years, from the Current Population or slightly less time than for people Survey (CPS) indicated that nearly ages 65 and over, whose median one-third of people in rental units duration was 5.2 years. had moved in the previous year,

compared with less than 10 Because the duration of residence

percent of homeowners.5 increases with increasing age

among renters and there is no Length of residence increases change with age for owners, the with age for renters. median length of residence for all

Median length of residence in- people also increases as they age,

creases with age for people living at least up to the age of 65.

in rental units. While there is no

Length of residence varies by

race and Hispanic origin.

The length of residence varies by

race and Hispanic origin. Some of

this variation can be explained by

differences in rates of home ownership by race and Hispanic origin.

Since owners have longer durations

that renters, a racial or ethnic group

with a higher percentage of people

living in owner-occupied units

should have longer durations than a

group with a lower percentage living

in owner-occupied units. For most

groups this relationship appears to

be true.

Seventy percent of Whites live in

owner-occupied units compared

with about half of Blacks. And,

as expected, Whites have longer

median durations (5.5 years) than

Blacks (4.2 years). A lower percentage of Hispanics than either

Whites or Blacks were living in

owner-occupied units (42 percent)

and again, as expected, Hispanics

also have a lower median duration

(3.1 years). The pattern does not

hold true for Asian and Pacific

Islanders, however. This group has

a higher percentage living in owneroccupied units than either Blacks or

Hispanics (about 54 percent), but a

median duration of only 3.3 years–

no different than the median for

Hispanics.

The patterns by tenure for each

race group are similar to those for

the entire population. Owners in

each of these groups have much

longer median durations than

renters. Whites in owner-occupied

units do not have a median duration

significantly different than that for

Blacks living in owner-occupied

units–both a little over 8 years.

Both Hispanics and Asian and

Pacific Islanders living in owneroccupied units have shorter median

durations, however–5.2 years and

6.6 years, respectively.

For renters, a new pattern

emerges. Whites, Asian and

5

Ibid.

Table 6. Median Duration (Years) in Current Residence by Age

Age when moved into

current residence Total

population

Living in an

owner-occupied

unit

Living in a

renter-occupied

unit

15 years and over . . .

15 to 19 years ..........

20 to 24 years ..........

25 to 29 years ..........

30 to 34 years ..........

35 to 44 years ..........

45 to 64 years ..........

65 years and over .......

5.2

2.6

3.4

5.1

5.7

6.0

6.6

4.6

8.2

4.4

9.3

8.9

8.8

8.7

8.4

5.2

2.1

1.7

1.6

1.9

2.1

2.4

3.1

4.0

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, SIPP, 1993.

Table 7. Median Duration (Years) in Current Residence by Race,

Hispanic Origin, and Gender

Race, Hispanic origin, and Gender Total 15

years old

and over

Living in an

owneroccupied

unit

Living in a

renteroccupied

unit

1 All races ............................

White ..................................

Black ..................................

Asian or Pacific Islander .................

Hispanic origin2 .........................

Male...................................

Female ................................

5.2

5.5

4.2

3.3

3.1

4.9

5.6

8.2

8.4

8.1

5.2

6.6

7.6

8.8

2.1

2.0

2.6

2.0

1.9

2.0

2.2

1

Includes American Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts.

2

Hispanics may be of any race.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, SIPP, 1993.
6 P70-66

U.S. Census Bureau, the Official StatisticsTM October 1, 1998

Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics The migration history module in of methodological differences, use

living in rental units all have the 1993 SIPP included questions caution when comparing these

median durations of about 2 years. on the location of each person's data with data from other sources.

Black renters, in comparison, have previous residence, the month and Contact Karen E. King,

a significantly longer median year they moved into and out of Demographic Statistical Methods

duration than the other groups– that home, and the month and Division, at 301-457-4192 or on

2.6 years. year they moved into their current the Internet at:

residence. Other items included Karen.e.King@ccmail.census.gov Women have longer each person's state or foreign for survey design and estimation durations than men. country of birth, their citizenship questions. For information on the

Women have a median duration of status, and the year people born source of data, the accuracy of

5.6 years, compared with a median outside the United States came to estimates, the use of standard

of 4.9 years for men. This relation- this country. errors, and the computation of

ship holds for both owners and standard errors, see the "Source Accuracy of the estimates renters. For example, among and Accuracy Statement for the

people living in owner-occupied All survey statistics are subject to 1993 SIPP Public Use File". See

housing units, women have a sampling error, as well as non- also the SIPP web site:

median duration of 8.8 years, sampling error such as survey http://www.sipp.census.gov/sipp

compared with 7.6 years for men. design flaws, respondent classifi- Contacts cation and reporting errors, data Source of the data processing mistakes, and Statistical Information Office

The estimates in this report come undercoverage. The Census pop@census.gov

from the Survey of Income and Bureau attempts to reduce errors 301-457-2422

Program Participation (SIPP). The made by respondents, coders, Kristin A. Hansen SIPP is a longitudinal survey of and interviewers through the use kahansen@census.gov people who are at least 15 years of quality control and editing proce- 301-457-2454 old conducted at 4-month intervals dures. Ratio estimation to indeby the Census Bureau. Although pendent age-race-gender-Hispanic User comments

the main focus of SIPP is informa- population controls partially cor- The Census Bureau welcomes the tion on labor force participation, rects for bias due to survey comments and advice of users of jobs, income, and participation in undercoverage. However, biases our data products and reports. If federal assistance programs, exist in the estimates when missed you have any suggestions or com- information on other topics is also people have characteristics differ- ments, please write to: collected in topical modules on a ent from those of interviewed

rotating basis. Data shown in this people in the same age-race- Chief, Population Division

report are from a migration history gender-Hispanic origin group. U.S. Bureau of the Census

module collected in the 4-month Washington DC 20233 Analytical statements in this report period from June through Septem- have been tested and meet statisti- or send E-mail to: ber 1993. cal standards. However, because pop@census.gov

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