More residents in the Washington area moved around the region last year than in 2009, defying national trends revealing the lowest levels of mobility in the post-World War II era.
Nearly 34,000 people over the age of 1 year moved from the District to Maryland or Virginia in 2010, up from about 29,000 in 2009, according to census data released Tuesday. An additional 21,000 moved from Maryland and Virginia to the District, up from about 16,000 in 2009.
Stronger job growth and a healthier housing market in the region account for much of the mobility, said Lisa Sturtevant of George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis.
| The Washington region’s revolving doors | |||
| Movement among the District, Maryland and Virginia was up nearly across the board in 2010, according to U.S. Census data released Tuesday. | |||
| 2010 | to Maryland | to Virginia | to District |
| Maryland » | — | 24,822 | 13,503 |
| Virginia » | 24,765 | — | 7,915 |
| District » | 23,202 | 10,593 | — |
| 2009 | to Maryland | to Virginia | to District |
| Maryland » | — | 26,226 | 9,960 |
| Virginia » | 22,050 | — | 5,586 |
| District » | 21,189 | 8,030 | — |
“While [the D.C.-area housing market] is still slow, it’s possible to sell your home and move to a bigger one,” Sturtevant said. “We’re not anywhere close to being back to normal, but compared to other places, we don’t have as many people underwater.”
Movement between Maryland and Virginia, where local officials vie for their state’s claims to the best quality of life, was close to even. About 50,000 people crossed the Potomac, half from the Old Dominion and half from the Old Line State.
“Maryland tends to have higher taxes and more taxes, but people don’t usually move for those reasons. They ask, ‘Where can I get the house that I want, and the neighborhood I want, and avoid a hellish commute, and send my kids to school?’ ” Sturtevant said.
Nationally, less than 12 percent of Americans lived in a different home in 2010 than in 2009 — the lowest percentage since the census started tracking Americans’ mobility in 1948.
Young adults and college graduates account for some of the most significant drops in mobility, according to an analysis by William Frey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
“These are people who tend to have higher migration rates … because they’re the ones who follow the jobs,” Frey said. But in all three categories of moves — within counties, between counties and between states — “we see college graduates stuck in the mud. It doesn’t bode well for what they can contribute.”
Homeowners, too, tended toward staying put over the past six years. In 2005-06, more than 4 percent of them moved within the same county, while nearly 3 percent moved to a different county. In 2010-11, those figures dropped to less than 3 percent, and less than 2 percent, respectively.
