Housing and Opportunity

For much of U.S. history, moving to markets with better jobs has been a primary means for low-income workers to rise out of poverty and access opportunity. Recently, however, there has been a decrease in the rate with which workers have relocated to markets with better work opportunities. Average annual mobility has declined from nearly 20 between 1948 and 1980 to only about 10 percent in 2015 (U.S. Census 2016), which may be signaling a fundamental shift in the ability for workers to relocate to regions with greater job opportunities.