Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Story by Josie Gatti Schafer, UNO Center for Public Affairs Research | Visualization by Mike Maciag

Residents of the United States are mobile. They move for all sorts of reasons, including work, weather, and quality of life. However, there are some cities that people choose to stay in for a long time. Cities like West Islip, New York (58.3%), Levittown, Pennsylvania (51.1%), and Garden City, Michigan (46.5%) have a large percentage of the population that has lived there since before 2000. Of the cities with populations of at least 25,000, those with an about average percentage of long-term residents since 2000 include cities such as Omaha, Nebraska (26.8%), Amarillo, Texas (24.3%), and Buffalo, New York (27%).

The interactive also shows the time period that people moved and where people came from most recently. For instance, in most cities, households were in the same county a year prior. Notably, some cities attracted new households prior to the Great Recession and others during and after.

Select a city below to view its statistics. Data is shown for jurisdictions with populations of 25,000 or greater.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year Estimates, DP04, Table B07003.