Racial Differences in Mobility Rates in the United States by Educational Attainment

Filed in Research & Studies on November 23, 2015

New data from the U.S. Census Bureau documents the number of citizens who moved from one residence to another between 2014 and 2015

Blacks in the United States are more likely to move than whites. In the 2014-to-2015 period, almost 6 million African Americans, nearly 15 percent of the entire Black population of the United States changed their residence. For non-Hispanic White Americans, 10.5 percent changed their residence during the period.

Most of these moves for African Americans were local. Two thirds were to different residences in the same county. Some 12 percent of all Africans who moved went to a different state and 4.1 percent moved abroad. Only 2.6 percent of Whites who changed residences, left the country.

When we factor in educational attainment, we discover some interesting differences between Blacks and Whites. About 8 percent of Black adults who graduated from high school but had no college experience moved between 2014 and 2015. For Whites with only a high school education, a slightly higher percentage moved.

For college graduates, 13 percent of all African Americans changed residences between 2014 and 2015. For White college graduates the figure was much lower at 9.6 percent. But the racial gap in moving rates almost entirely disappears for those with a graduate or professional degree. In fact, Blacks with a graduate or professional degree were slightly less likely to move than similarly educated Whites.