Movin' In and Movin' Out -- Migration and Marital Events

Alison Fields, U.S. Census Bureau
Jason Fields, U.S. Census Bureau

Marriage and divorce represent tumultuous times in people's lives. Families experience upheaval in many ways. One of the least examined aspects of this upheaval is geographic disruption or migration. Very often these events are accompanied by at least a local move and the combination into a single household, or the disruption in two multiple households. The divorce rate in the United States suggests that about 1 million households may face a divorce related migration each year. The annual marriage rate points to the formation of more than 2 million new married couple families each year. In the 5 years prior to Census 2000, about half of the population experienced a residential migration (Berkner and Faber 2003). The timing of marital events to residential moves, has not been well described, especially in recent years. This analysis examines the intra-state and inter-state migration associated with these marital events.