Click here to view the 2006 Task Force Report "The Dyanimics of Elderly and Retiree Migration Into and Out of Maryland"
(to request a full copy, please contact Gloria Cameron at gcameron@umbc.edu)


Migration of Older Americans: Where and Why

Older Americans are on the move – some across town, but others across state lines – swelling the populations of some communities and states and bringing with them demands for housing, consumer goods, health care and a variety of services; they also enrich their new communities through philanthropy, volunteering – and taxes. Some aspects of this story of migration have long been known: older Americans – and a great many others as well – move from the cold north to the sunny south. Scholars have identified the states that people move to and from as well as the changing patterns of this movement. The financial effects of migration are also studied in order to plan for the impact of older people on communities and states. Thorough understanding, however, also depends on knowing who moves and why they move.

Charles (Chuck) F. Longino, Jr., Ph.D., Visiting Professor to the Erickson School of Aging Studies at UMBC, is widely known and celebrated for his work on the migration of people aged 60 and older. Based on census data and results from the national Health and Retirement Study, Dr. Longino’s research has unearthed trends in the movement – and reasons for them – of older Americans that should be of interest to developers, planners and bankers, as well as to politicians and scholars.

Where they’re leaving and where they’re going

It’s no surprise that in the more than 50 years since Americans began to move for retirement, Florida has been the favored destination. In 1960, Florida, California, New Jersey, New York and Illinois were the in-migration leaders. By 2000, Florida was still first, but was now followed by Arizona, California, Texas and North Carolina. From 1995-2000, fully 40 percent of retirement-age migrants moved to those five states.

“Interstate migration,” Dr. Longino says in his book, Retirement Migration in America, “may be only half as common in the older population (4.5 percent) as in the general American population (9.4 percent) over a five-year period, but retirement migration is more concentrated…. Retirees move in greater proportions to fewer states than migrants of all ages, thus metaphorically they dig deeper channels…. Retirement migration is not of much consequence in most states, but in some it is a major industry.”

Who are the migrating retirees?  

Typically, the people reaching retirement age who are likely to make an interstate move are independent, have worked for more than one company, have moved previously for work and now focus more on the place than the people. In each case, some patterns are clear: those who are more likely to move upon retirement are: white, formerly or currently married and educated. If retirees own a home – including a new home – they are more likely to migrate than if they own a mobile home. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the closer the family – emotionally and physically – the less likely a move. “Health,” Dr. Longino says, “much to our surprise, had little influence on geographical mobility.”

Of special interest to developers and planners are the so-called amenity movers – people who prefer places with certain amenities – especially proximity to cities and their attractions – and to the amenities that draw tourists, including golf and other outdoor activities. Often, these migrants have vacationed in or near the place to which they retire: it is a known destination associated with happy experiences.  

Why do retirees migrate?

“Even if older people have the resources needed to make the move, and the mobility experience that would enable them to positively imagine moving, strong attachments to community and persons may hold them back or ‘moor’ them to their place of origin,” Dr. Longino says.

For those who do consider moving, “Quality of life, or at least the perception thereof, is at the heart of this process [of determining where to retire],” according to Dr. Longino. Later life migration, he argues, depends on the jelling of four factors: 1) demographic particulars (age, gender, race, etc); 2) economic and health resources; 3) previous experience traveling; and 4) ties to people and places at the origin and the destination.

Further, more affluent migrants tend to move soon after retirement when they are relatively young and vigorous.They bring with them billions of dollars and continue to spend in the billions for retail, financial services, housing and leisure.

Dr. Longino argues that armed with a realistic appraisal of the attractiveness of their communities (now and planned) and an understanding of the older people they can hope to attract and keep, planners can be assured that retirement housing and related services can provide the income, jobs, an environmentally friendly industry and new citizens who are likely to be involved in their new community and eager to help enrich it.

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Charles F. Longino, Jr., Ph.D., visiting professor at the Erickson School for Aging Studies, is widely recognized and honored for his research on the sociology of aging, especially on the migration of people 60 and older. He is the president of the Gerontological Society of America, past president of the Association of Gerontology in Higher Education, and was for four years the editor of the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences. Dr. Longino is the author of the book Retirement Migration in America, the second edition of which will be published soon, and of some 140 scholarly articles. He is the Washington M. Wingate Professor of Sociology at Wake Forest University where he directs the Reynolda Gerontology Program.