The Southern Migration Turnaround and Current Patterns

During the decade of the 1970s, the South experienced a remarkable reversal in its historical migration patterns. Traditionally a region with net out-migration to the rest of the country, the South began receiving large volumes of migrants from the Midwest and the Northeast and showing a net gain through migration. This paper documents this turnaround and the numerous reasons behind it. National economic restructuring in the 1970s and 1980s prompted a regional shift of industry and employment from the North to the South. This coincided with the coming of age of the Baby Boom generation, which greatly increased the volume of the flows to the South. The growth of elderly migration and the unprecedented reverse migration of blacks to the South gave further impetus to the Southward movement. Finally, metropolitan growth within the South substantially reduced the out-migration from the region, thereby increasing net migration. The paper also examines the current and emerging geography of Southern migration. Florida and Texas have received a significant share of in-migrants to the South in past decades. Recent patterns suggest that the growth is diffusing to other states such as Georgia and North Carolina that have experienced strong metropolitan development. While immigration to the South has always been low, a growing number of foreign-born have been making a secondary move to the South after entering the country elsewhere. Overall the data suggest that the South will continue to be a region of net in-migration into the next millennium.