Detailed tabulations are now available which provide statistics on the geographical mobility of the noninstitutional population of the United States, based on the March 1997 Current Population Survey. These tables provide information such as:

• Between March 1996 and March 1997, 42.1 million Americans (or 16 percent of the population) moved. Most movers (65.9 percent) stayed in the same county, 18.9 percent moved between counties within the same state, and 15.2 percent changed states.
• The highest rates of moving were found among young adults 20-to-29 years old (31.8 percent). Moving rates declined as age increased: 21.3 percent for people 30-to-34 years old, 14.2 percent for those 35-to-44 years old, 9.4 percent for those 45-to-54 years old, 7.6 percent for those 55-to-64 years old, and only 4.7 percent for those 65 years and over.
• Whites had lower overall rates of moving (15.3 percent) than either Blacks or people of Hispanic origin (both approximately 20 percent).
• The South was the only region with a significant net change due to internal migration, as it gained 391,000 people from the other three regions.
• During the survey period, central cities lost 3.0 million people due to migration, while the suburbs gained 2.8 million.
• 1.3 million people moved to the United States fromabroad. Around 92 percent of these movers went to metropolitan areas.
• Renters were more likely to move than homeowners. About one-third of the people living in renter-occupied housing units in March 1997 had moved in the previous year (32.9 percent) compared with fewer than 1 in 10 people in owner-occupied housing units (8.2 percent).