Many will be disappointed with the latest report on the nation's geographic mobility. Fewer Americans moved between 2013 and 2014 than in the previous year, according to the Census Bureau, and the mobility rate fell to a record low. Although the bureau calls the trend in mobility “stable,” the numbers are not good news for housing and other industries awaiting the return of the mobile American.

Only 11.5 percent of people aged one or older moved from one house to another between March 2013 and March 2014 – an all-time low. The number who moved fell by 237,000 between 2012-13 and 2013-14. Here is the trend in the mobility rate since 2006-07, before the start of the Great Recession...

Geographic mobility rate
2013-14: 11.5%
2012-13: 11.7%
2011-12: 12.0%
2010-11: 11.6%
2009-10: 12.5%
2008-09: 12.5%
2007-08: 11.9%
2006-07: 13.2%

The mobility rate fell slightly for both homeowners and renters. Among homeowners, only 5.0 percent moved between 2013 and 2014. While this rate is above the record low of 4.7 percent recorded in the years 2010-11 and 2011-12, it remains well below the 7 to 9 percent that was typical in the years prior to the Great Recession. Renters account for 71 percent of movers. Among renters, 24.5 percent moved between 2013 and 2014, an all-time low. Before the Great Recession, the renter mobility rate typically exceeded 30 percent.

Homeownership: A Decade of Decline
The nation's homeownership rate peaked in 2004 at 69.0 percent, according to the Census Bureau's Housing Vacancy Survey. Since then, the overall rate has fallen by 4.5 percentage points to 64.5 percent in 2014. Among householders in their 30s, the rate fell by more than 10 percentage points during those years.

Homeownership rate in 2014
(and percentage point decline since 2004)
Under 25: 21.7% (-3.5)
25 to 29: 32.7% (-7.5)
30 to 34: 47.1% (-10.3)
35 to 39: 56.0% (-10.2)
40 to 44: 63.2% (-8.7)
45 to 54: 70.7% (-6.5)
55 to 64: 76.3% (-5.4)
65-plus: 79.9 (-1.2)

Homeownership of 30-to-34-year-olds 
The homeownership rate of householders aged 30 to 34 fell by more than 10 percentage points between 2004 (the year the nation's homeownership rate peaked) and 2014, according to the Census Bureau's Housing Vacancy Survey. Historically, 30-to-34-year-olds had been the nation's first-time homebuyers, the age group in which the homeownership rate climbed above 50 percent. But between 2004 and 2014 the homeownership rate of the age group fell from well above 50 percent (57.4) to well below (47.1). No longer is 30-to-34 the age of first-time home buying, except in the Midwest.

Northeast (-10.1 percentage points): In the Northeast, the homeownership rate of households headed by 30-to-34-year-olds fell from 51.9 percent in 2004 to 41.8 percent in 2014.

Midwest (-7.4 percentage points): The Midwest is the only region in which the homeownership rate of householders aged 30 to 34 remains above 50 percent. In 2014, 57.6 percent of householders aged 30 to 34 in the region owned their home, down from 65.0 percent in 2004.  

South (-11.1 percentage points): For householders aged 30 to 34 in the South, the homeownership rate fell from 58.8 to 47.7 percent between 2004 and 2014. 

West (-12.2 percentage points): The decline in homeownership in the 30-to-34 age group was greatest in the West. The figure fell from 52.1 percent in 2004 to just 39.9 percent in 2014.

To view Geographical Mobility, visit the Census Bureau's website.
To view Housing Vacancies and Homeownership, visit the Census Bureau's website.