We Americans are a transient people. A new job, a change in marital status, or the chance to buy or rent a nicer home are among the reasons we switch residences. Where were people the most mobile? You’re about to find out!

This is one of a series of Briefs that uses data collected in the 1990 Census of Population and Housing to examine the characteristics of housing in American metropolitan areas (MA’s). This Brief examines which MA’s had the highest concentrations of recent movers – householders who moved into their homes during the 15 months prior to the 1990 census.

Of course, not all of us had just seen the moving vans depart. In fact, some – the “stayers” – had gotten to know their homes very well indeed. Stayers were householder who had last moved prior to 1960 (before John F. Kennedy was in the White House!). We’ll show you where stayers were most prevalent.

The MA’s used here correspond to the definitions that were in place in 1990. The count of 335 MA’s equals the total number of MSA’s (metropolitan statistical areas) and PMSA’s (primary metropolitan statistical areas).

PMSA’s are aggregated into consolidated metropolitan statistical areas, not discussed in this Brief.