This report presents statistics on population motility in the period 1955 to 1960 for persons 5 years old and over, for States and State economic areas. The data include information on the demographic, social, and economic characteristics of the population classified toy mobility status. Tables 1 to 11 present statistics on motility status by social and economic characteristics, with a cross-classification by age, for the United States. The remaining tables (12 to 38) present data for regions, divisions, States, and State economic areas. Except for tables 3 to 11, which are based on the 5-percent sample, the statistics for this report are drawn from the 25-percent sample of the 1960 Census.
The Volume I State reports contain statistics on mobility status and year moved into present house for States, by urban-rural residence, standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMSA's), urbanized areas, urban places of 10,000 or more, and counties, and statistics on mobility status and region of origin by age, sex, and color, for States and for cities of 250,000 or more. The Volume I United States Summary report gives totals for the Nation and its regions and geographic divisions and shows region of residence in 1955 by region of residence in 1960 and the net gain or loss for each region through interregional migration.
Statistics on place of residence in 1955 are presented in Census Tracts, Series PHC(1). Movers living in each census tract are classified by 1955 residence as follows: (1) Central city of this SMSA, (2) other part of this SMSA, and (3) outside this SMSA. The last category is further subdivided, into "North and West" and "South." Other 1960 Census reports on mobility are PC(2)-2A, State of Birth; PC(2)-2C, Mobility for Metropolitan Areas: and PC(2)-2D, Lifetime and recent Migration. Additional statistics on the mobility of the population are included in a few other PC(2) and PC(3) reports.
Mobility data for 1950 are based on the 1-year interval rather than the 5-year interval. The 1950 reports for States, Volume II, Characteristics of the Population, included statistics in residence in 1949 for the State, for standard metropolitan areas, urbanized areas, urban places with 10,000 inhabitants or more in 1950, and for counties. Data on mobility status were also presented for census facts in Volume in 0f the 1950 reports. Volume IV of the 1950 Census included four special reports on mobility, namely: Part 4A, State of Birth; Part 4B, Population Mobility--States and State Economic Areas; Part 4C, Population Mobility-Farm and Nonfarm Movers; and Part 4D, Population Mobility-Characteristics of Migrants Additional data on mobility were presented in Volume IV, Special Reports, with other subjects.
The 1940 Census, in which for the first time data were obtained on the mobility of the population during a fixed period of time, used a 5-year interval (1935 to 1940) and hence from this standpoint is comparable to the 1960 Census. Although the population schedule called for a report on all changes of usual residence, in the main tabulations, persons moving from one house to another within the same county, or quasi-county,1 were not distinguished from those in the same house at both dates. All these persons, as well as children under 5 years old, were described as "nonmigrants" in the 1940 reports. Data were presented for the United States, regions, geographic divisions, States, urban and rural residence, and for individual cities of 100,000 inhabitants or more. Statistics were published in four special reports entitled Color and Sex of Migrants, Age of Migrants, Economic Characteristics of Migrants, and Social Characteristics of Migrants. Additional statistics on migration were contained in some of the special reports on other subjects.
Current Population Survey
Sample data on mobility during the preceding year have been collected annually since 1948 in the Current Population Survey and have been published mostly in Current Population Reports, Series P-20. Earlier surveys at irregular intervals covered other periods back to 1940.
Estimates of net migration
Estimates of net migration including net immigration from abroad by States and counties have been computed for the decade 1950 to 1960. The State estimates are published in Current Population Reports, Series P-25, No. 247, and the county estimates in Series P-23, No. 7. The methods of computing net migration and net civilian migration by the so-called "residual method" are explained in these reports. Similar estimates of net migration can also be computed by age, sex, and color; and such estimates have been published by a number of agencies.
1A quasi-county was defined as a city of 100,000 or more or the balance of its county.
Availability of Unpublished Data
The statistics appearing in this report represent the full detail printed out by the computer system. Additional statistics could be extracted to show 1960 residence detail not appearing in the published tables. A tabulation of migration stress shoving total migrants to each State economic area (SEA) from all other SEA's is also available. Requests for unpublished data may be made by writing to the Chief, population Division, Bureau of the Census, Washington D.C., 20233, and giving a specific description of the figures desired. Inquiries concerning unpublished data should be transmitted to the Bureau as soon as possible because the tape files are not retail indefinitely.