Migration To and From Southeast Florida, 1965-70

MIGRATION TO AND FROM SOUTHEAST FLORIDA, 1965-70 Ronald R. Schultz and Thomas J. Camarco, Jr. One of the fastest growing areas in the United States is Southeast Florida. Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties collectively grew from a population of 1,497,099 in 1960 to 2,236,645 in 1970, an increase of 49.4 percent. (1) Some 82.5 percent of this increase resulted from migration. (2) In-migration has dominated, but out-migration has also been strong. During 1965-70 there was approximately one out-migrant for every two in-migrants ( Table 1 ) . This study identifies the sources and destinations of migrants into and out of Southeast Florida, and attempts to explain the patterns created by these flows on the basis of age and socioeconomic characteristics of the migrants, and the influence of distance and climate. METHODS. The approach to the study was deterministic in that establishing "a precise relationship between the migration event and the predictor or explanatory variables was the objective." (3) Least squares regression was used in a stepwise procedure as the statistical model relating migration to selected predictors. DATA SOURCES. Only migrants originating in the United States were included in the study. The data, taken from the U.S. Census of Population for 1970, were derived by obtaining the five-year prior place of residence of a 15 percent sample of the United States population . Migrants were those who on April 1, 1970, resided in a different State Economic Area (SEA) on April 1, 1965. (4) Migration flows among the three counties (Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach, each of which is a SEA) comprising Southeast Florida were eliminated from the data on flows into and out of the region (Table 1 ) . (5) Dr. Schultz is Assistant Professor of Geography at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL 33431. Mr. Camarco is a doctoral student in the Department of Geography, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210. 34Southeastern Geographer TABLE 1 MIGRATION, SOUTHEAST FLORIDA SoutheastPalm 1965-1970FloridaDade BrowardBeach Total In-Migration432,460* 201,108190,76584,893 (% of 1970 population)(19.3) (15.9)(30.8)(24.3) Total Out-Migration221,149* 164,48161,83939,135 (% of 1970 population)(9.9) (13.0)(10.0)(11.2) Net Migration211,311* 36,627128,92645,758 (% of 1970 population)(9.4) (2.9)(20.8)(13.1) Ratio of In-Migration to Out-Migration1.96 1.223.082.17 Migration from Dade to0 23,5704,237 Migration from Broward to6,1130 4,477 Migration from Palm Beach to2,1823,7270 * Adjusted for flows among member SEAs. Source: Calculated by authors from U.S. Census (footnote 4). AGE AND SEX OF MIGRANTS. Age was the most obvious demographic difference between general United States migrants and migrants to Southeast Florida (Figs. 1 and 2). A substantially larger proportion of migrants to Southeast Florida were more than 40 years of age than was true for the United States as a whole, and among migrants 65 years old and older Florida received three times as many as the national norm. On the other hand the 20-24 year age group comprised 17.3 percent of all United States migrants, compared to only 9.8 percent of Southeast Florida in-migrants. Another deviation from the national norm was the greater proportion of females migrating to Southeast Florida. Females accounted for 51.3 percent of the region's in-migrants, but for only 49.6 percent of migrants in the nation. The explanation for this minor departure from the national average is the older age of migrants to Florida and that females comprised more than half of the population in the older age groups. The age and sex structure of out-migrants was more typical of the national average (Fig. 3). Most migrants leaving Southeast Florida were 5-29 years of age. Southeast Florida out-migrants who were over 40 years of age, however, represented a larger percentage (30.6) of all out-migrants from the region than for the nation (22.2 percent). Vol. XVII, No. 1 35 AGE AND SEX DISTRIBUTION OF MIGRANTS UNITED STATES 1965- 70 —?----------------T- ß 6 MALE 65 60+64 55 459 50+54 45J49 40 4 + 2...