Lichter et al.: Inter-County Migration and Poverty Concentration

In Inter-County Migration and Spatial Concentration of Poverty: Comparing Metro and Nonmetro Patterns, Daniel T. Lichter (Cornell, Policy Analysis & Management/Sociology), Domenico Parisi (Mississippi State, Sociology), and Michael C. Taquino (Mississippi State, National Strategic Planning & Analysis Research Center) investigate the degree to which rural counties in America have become a “collecting ground” for America’s poor. In contrast to conventional demographic approaches that focus on the poor as left behind in nonmetro areas, this study examines movement both to and from poor or economically disadvantaged counties.

Relying on data from the nation’s longest-running household panel survey, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), the study underscores the high rates of poor individuals circulating among nonmetro counties and often migrating from one poor county to an even poorer one. The study finds migration from nonmetro-to-metro counties was associated with upward residential attainment and such out-migration is highly selective of groups that have clear economic incentives to move to areas with more opportunity or enhanced return on education. In contrast, metro-to-nonmetro migration was associated with downward residential mobility and those leaving metro areas were especially likely to move to the poorest nonmetro counties.

By examining both in- and out-migration, Inter-County Migration illuminates how migration from both metro and nonmetro counties to poor nonmetro areas contributes to the concentration of poverty in poor, nonmetro counties.

This digest was produced with significant contribution by Aurora Kenworthy, UNL Law Student.