The economic impact of rural-tourban migration on economic well-being in the United States

This paper investigates the effects of internal migration by rural residents on the economic status of the migrants. The effect of a move is measured by the difference between an individual’s observed economic status, up to six years after the move, and the estimated economic status that the migrant would have experienced at that time, had the move not occurred. A comparative analysis of the mean changes in economic status of rural residents indicates that substantial benefits accrue to rural-to-urban movers relative to stayers and that the benefits associated with moving are not transitory. Such benefits are not observed for rural-to-rural movers. The benefits of rural-to-urban migration are observed even after controlling for individual characteristics and geographic attributes of the regions of origin and destination. However, changes in economic status exhibit considerable variability so that our analysis also suggests that, while some rural-to-urban migrants benefit greatly from a move, others experience a considerable reduction in economic status.