Post-1980 regional migration patterns of the U.S. elderly population.

We investigated how three aspects of the U.S. elderly population's residential relocation behaviors have changed over the past three decades (1955-60, 1965-70, 1975-80, 1980-85): their rates of overall mobility, interstate, interregional, and intracounty moves; their interregional origin-destination migration streams; and their regional net migration patterns. Data were obtained from published reports of the 1960, 1970, and 1980 U.S. Decennial Censuses and the 1985 U.S. Current Population Survey. Overall mobility rates consistently declined in all regions and periods, while interstate and interregional migration rates increased through 1980. In the period 1980-85 there were decreased numbers and rates of elderly out-migrants from the Midwest and Northeast, resulting in unprecedented declines in the net migration gains of older persons in the South. The likely persistence of these trends in the future and their explanation are discussed.