U.S. Census Bureau releases statistics on moving

The U.S. Census Bureau has released a series of 34 tables, "Geographical Mobility: 2006," on the 40 million Americans who moved between 2005 and 2006, including characteristics of movers by type of move. Some of this year’s findings include the following:* In 2006, 39.8 million United States residents moved within the previous one-year period. * The moving rate remained statistically unchanged from 2005 at 14 percent. * Nearly half of the reasons given for moving (18.4 million) were housing related, such as wanting a bigger or smaller house. * The West had the highest moving rate (16 percent), followed by the South (15 percent), the Midwest (13 percent) and the Northeast (10 percent). * Hispanics had the highest moving rate (18 percent), followed by blacks (17 percent), Asians (14 percent) and non-Hispanic whites (12 percent). * In 2006, nearly one-third (30 percent) of all people living in renter-occupied housing units lived elsewhere a year earlier. The moving rate for people living in owner-occupied housing units was seven percent. * For the population 16 and older, 24 percent of those who were unemployed in 2006 lived in a different place a year earlier. This compares with 14 percent of those who were employed in 2006 and 10 percent for those not in the labor force. * Most movers stayed within the same county (62 percent), while 20 percent moved from a different county within the same state; 14 percent moved from a different state and three percent moved from abroad.