The Impact of Personal and Location Characteristics Upon Elderly Interstate Migration

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of locational and individual characteristics upon interstate retiree migration, particularly in state-level public policy variables. Data regarding the characteristics of individual movers are drawn from the 1990 US. Census of Population and Housing 5% Public Use Microdata Sample. The household data are merged with location-specific attributes including both natural amenities and local fiscal variables. Three specifications of the model are estimated. The “push” model analyzes the impact of origin characteristics upon migration between states, while the “pull” model demonstrates the influence of destination characteristics upon interstate migration. The final specification is the “difference” model, which measures the actual changes in site characteristics experienced by migrants in their location decisions. The results indicate that both personal and locational characteristics are important factors determining the decision of elderly migrants to change their state of residence. While there is some limited support for the push and pull specifications, the difference model is found to provide the best overall fit