Skip to main content
Log in

The changing impact of white migration on the population compositions of origin and destination metropolitan areas

  • Published:
Demography

Abstract

Increased migration to the sunbelt and the metropolitan-nonmetropolitan “turnaround” represent departures from long-standing redistribution trends. Although these patterns have been examined from a number of perspectives, their consequences for individual metropolitan areas have not yet been brought to light. In the present study, stream-disaggregated data for the late 1950s and late 1960s are employed to assess the impact of recent migration on the sizes and compositions of white populations in thirty-one large metropolitan areas.

Most large northern SMSAs have been experiencing the “new” migration patterns since the late 1950s. They have incurred net out-movements of whites to both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. In their exchanges with nonmetropolitan areas, however, they have managed to retain greater numbers of college graduates and professional workers. Southern and western SMSAs did not sustain losses to nonmetropolitan areas during either period. They did appear to gain both total and high status population as a result of interregional metropolitan redistribution.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bacon, Lloyd. 1971. Poverty Among Interregional Rural-to-Urban Migrants. Rural Sociology 36:125–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barabba, Vincent P. 1975. The National Setting: Regional Shifts, Metropolitan Decline, and Urban Decay. In George Sternlieb and James W. Hughes (eds.), Post-Industrial America: Metropolitan Decline and Interregional Job Shifts. New Brunswick: Rutgers Center for Urban Policy Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beale, Calvin L. 1975. The Revival of Population Growth in Nonmetropolitan America. ERS-605, Economic Development Division, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

  • —, and Glenn V. Fuguitt. 1978. The New Pattern of Nonmetropolitan Population Change. In Karl E. Taeuber, Larry L. Bumpass, and James A. Sweet (eds.), Social Demography. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cebula, Richard J., and Richard K. Vedder. 1973. A Note on Migration, Economic Opportunity, and the Quality of Life. Journal of Regional Science, 13:205–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeJong, Gordon F., and Craig R. Humphrey. 1976. Selected Characteristics of Metropolitan-to-Nonmetropolitan Area Migrants: A Study of Population Redistribution in Pennsylvania. Rural Sociology 41:526–538.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galle, Omer R., and Max W. Williams. 1972. Metropolitan Migration Efficiency. Demography 9:655–664.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, Michael J. 1970. Lagged Response in the Decision to Migrate. Journal of Regional Science 10:375–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, C. Horace. 1958. Educational Selectivity of Rural-Urban Migration: Preliminary Results of a North Carolina Study. Proceedings: Annual Milbank Memorial Fund Conference: Part III.

  • Hinze, Kenneth E. 1977. Causal Factors in the Net Migration Flow to Metropolitan Areas of the United States 1960–70. University of Chicago: Community and Family Study Center.

  • Humphrey, Craig R., Ralph R. Sell, John A. Krout, and R. Thomas Gillaspy. 1977. Net Migration Turnaround in Pennsylvania Nonmetropolitan Minor Civil Divisions, 1960–70. Rural Sociology 42:332–351.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirschenbaum, Alan. 1971. Patterns of Metropolitan to Nonmetropolitan Mobility: Changing Ecological Factors Affecting Family Mobility. Rural Sociology 36:315–325.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1972. City-Suburb Destination Choices Among Migrants to Metropolitan Areas. Demography 9:321–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Long, Larry, and Kristin A. Hansen. 1975. Trends in Return Migration to the South. Demography 12:601–614.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —. 1977. Selectivity of Black Return Migration to the South. Rural Sociology 42:317–331.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, Ann R. 1967. The Migration of Employed Persons to and from Metropolitan Areas of the United States. Journal of the American Statistical Association 59:1418–1432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morrison, Peter, and Judith P. Wheeler. 1976. Rural Renaissance in America? The Revival of Population Growth in Remote Areas. Population Bulletin Vol. 31, No.3. Washington, D.C.: Population Reference Bureau.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muller, Thomas. 1975. Growing and Declining Urban Areas: A Fiscal Comparison. Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • New York Times. 1978. Census Finds Blacks are Moving from Northeast at a Faster Rate. March 11.

  • Shryock, Henry S., Jr. 1964. Population Mobility Within the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago, Community and Family Studies Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, and Jacob S. Siegel. 1973. The Methods and Materials of Demography. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Bureau of the Census.

    Google Scholar 

  • Speare, Alden, Jr., Sidney Goldstein, and William H. Frey. 1975. Residential Mobility, Migration and Metropolitan Change. Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sternlieb, George, and James W. Hughes (eds.) 1975. Post Industrial America: Metropolitan Decline and Interregional Job Shifts. New Brunswick: Rutgers Center for Urban Policy Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, and James W. Hughes(eds.) 1978. Revitalizing the Northeast: Prelude to an Agenda. New Brunswick: Rutgers Center for Urban Policy Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taeuber, Irene B. 1972. The Changing Distribution of the Population of the United States in the Twentieth Century. In Sara Mills Mazie (ed.), U.S. Commission on Population Growth and the American Future. Population Distribution and Policy, Vol. V of Commission Research Reports. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taeuber, Karl E., and Alma F. Taeuber. 1964. White Migration and Socioeconomic Differences Between Cities and Suburbs. American Sociological Review 29:718–729.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tucker, C. Jack. 1976. Changing Patterns of Migration Between Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Areas in the United States: Recent Evidence. Demography 13:435–444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • United Nations. 1970. Manual VI: Methods of Measuring Internal Migration. Population Studies No. 47. New York: United Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1963. Census of Population: 1960. Subject Reports, Final Report PC(2)-2C. Mobility for Metropolitan Areas. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1971. Census of Population and Housing: 1970. General Demographic Trends for Metropolitan Areas 1960 to 1970. Final Report PHC(2)1. United States. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1973. Census of Population: 1970. Subject Reports, Final Report PC(2)-2C. Mobility for Metropolitan Areas. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1975. Current Population Reports, Series P20, No. 285. Mobility of the Population of the United States: March 1970 to March 1975. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1977. Current Population Reports, Series P25, No. 709. Estimates of the Population of Counties and Metropolitan Areas: July 1, 1974 and 1975. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1978. Current Population Reports, Series P25, No. 320. Geographical Mobility: March 1975 to March 1977. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vining, Daniel R. Jr., and Thomas Kontuly. 1978. Population Dispersal from Major Metropolitan Regions: An International Comparison. International Regional Science Review 3:49–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wardwell, John M. 1977. Equilibrium and Change in Nonmetropolitan Growth. Rural Sociology 42:156–179.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Frey, W.H. The changing impact of white migration on the population compositions of origin and destination metropolitan areas. Demography 16, 219–237 (1979). https://doi.org/10.2307/2061140

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2061140

Keywords

Navigation