Older adults can offset young-adult migration from rural areas that have recreational amenities

A study that looked at age and migration patterns from 2000 to 2010 found that many young people are moving from rural counties to urban areas, but some adults 30 and older are becoming rural, reports the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire. 

During the decade, nearly 3 million emerging (age 15-24) and young adults (25-29) moved to large urban areas that offered social, lifestyle, and economic opportunities, while suburbs gained only 370,000 from these two groups during this period, the study found. Some family-age (30-49) and older adults (50-74) moved into rural areas, but not enough to offset the loss of younger people. A larger number of family-aged people moved to the suburbs, and more older adults migrated to recreational or retirement areas. (Read more)

Rural areas that saw the highest migration were ones that offered recreational activities. There are several examples in this county-by-county map showing older adults' migration; one is the eastern half of Kentucky, where some counties that have falling or stable populations but are in recreational areas, are attracting older migrants. For a larger version, click on the map.

Migration of older adults (age 50-74) from 2000 to 2010