Elderly mobility and mobility outcomes: households in the later stage of the life course.

Recent research has demonstrated that elderly residential mobility is conditioned more often by economic factors than is mobility in general. This article explores these issues, specifically those related to the effects of mobility, aging in place, and migration on elderly economic well-being. Using the American Housing Survey national file for 1985, different types of mobility and migration for households in the later stages of the life course are examined. The evidence reiterates central city/suburban locational differences for the elderly, emphasizes the role of house costs, and house cost/income ratios in creating stress for the elderly, and strongly suggests that the elderly population is not simply grouped into young-old, old, and old-old, but is better treated in a continuum of life course changes.