Whether it’s external or internal migration, the ability to choose where you want to live is a distinctly American concept. In the 19th century, nearly one third of Americans moved each year, seeking better jobs, better education, better housing.
However, mobility has been on the decline in the United States for 50 years. According to the latest U.S. Census residential mobility data analyzed by rental home listing portal Point2Homes, 11% of people, or 37,045,761 residents, changed their address in the past year, the lowest level recorded since the Census Bureau began tracking this data in 1948. That’s a drop from 14.3% ten years earlier and down from the 20% who were changing residences in the 1960s.
A new Point2Homes analysis of U.S. Census data showed that only 7.8%, about 735,000 residents of New Jersey, changed addresses in 2024, the lowest rate of any state.
While most residents are staying put, city-level data shows some variation across the state:
- Trenton (13.9%) leads the state for overall mobility rates, well above both the state and national averages.
- Jersey City (11.7%) stands out as well, just above the national average.
- Newark (8.8%) and East Orange (9.3%) also show moderate movement.
- Toms River (3.8%), Elizabeth (4.4%), and Lakewood (4.5%) are the least mobile, highlighting areas of deep residential stability.
Most New Jersey relocations happen locally, but some cities are drawing newcomers from out of state:
- Union City had the highest rate of out-of-state movers in the state: 63.6% of all movers came from beyond New Jersey.
- Passaic and Clifton followed, each with 42.4% of movers arriving from other states.
- Jersey City drew 11,576 newcomers from other states, representing 33.1% of its movers, among the highest proportions statewide.
- On the lower end, Paterson (8.2%), Toms River (10.4%), and Lakewood (10.7%) had the smallest rates of movers coming from beyond New Jersey.
American mobility rates have declined to historic lows due to a combination of factors, including economic and job-related uncertainty; rising housing costs; and the increase in remote work flexibility, which reduced job-related relocations.
There are other factors that contribute to the steady downward trend in residential mobility rates.
Compared with the beginning of the 20th century, when homeownership rates hovered around 45%, a majority of Americans are now owners: After the fluctuations caused by the housing market collapse and resulting foreclosures from 2008, the national homeownership rate stabilized at around 65%. Because homeownership is a more stable and permanent housing option, increasingly more Americans becoming homeowners clearly affected mobility rates.
Another reason is home prices also keep increasing, along with borrowing rates. This means more people are reluctant to give up a home to try and find another one, especially if they secured lower mortgage rates during the pandemic.
Point2Homes.com is a real estate listing portal for rental homes across the United States.
This study focuses on inbound mobility across the United States. Point2Homes.com analyzed data from all 50 states and 651 U.S. cities, as reported in the 2024 ACS 1-Year Estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. Geographical mobility patterns were examined at both the state-to-state and city-to-city levels.
The company also analyzed mobility patterns based on housing tenure — whether movers were homeowners or renters. To calculate mobility rates at the national, state and city levels, Point2Homes.com focused on the total population aged one year and older who lived in the U.S. in both 2023 and 2024 to ensure a consistent group for comparison; measured how many people stayed in the same residence versus those who moved within the country during that period; focused on internal movement and excluded anyone who moved to the U.S. from abroad, so the results reflected only domestic residential mobility.
