Despite an Uptick During the Pandemic, Residential Mobility Rates Are Declining

The mid-pandemic Great Migration set the stage for a mass exodus from cities, one propelled by ultralow mortgage rates and remote work flexibilities, but according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, that 2020 trend isn’t representative of the market today—or before the pandemic, for that matter.

Residential mobility rates have been declining for the past four decades, mostly among young adults and renters, though overall mobility rates declined across all demographic characteristics including age, race, and ethnicity.

Fortunately, the United States Postal Service (USPS) Change of Address (CoA) data offer insight into monthly trends in mobility throughout the pandemic. These data reveal that moves spiked twice early in the pandemic before reverting to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2021 and falling further throughout 2022 (Figure 2). As a result, USPS data show all types of moves—individual, family, permanent, and temporary—were lower in 2022 than before the pandemic.

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