COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Urban residents who move from a central city to the suburbs are different in several noticeable ways from those who choose to move within the city limits, a new study shows.
Researchers at Ohio State University found that people who moved to the suburbs were more likely to be concerned about school-related issues such as safety and academic programs.
In contrast, those who found new homes within the city were more concerned about the cost of a new home, staying near family and friends and neighborhood racial diversity.
"People who choose to move to the suburbs differ from those who move within a city both in their personal characteristics and their reasons for moving," said Pasquale Pellegrini, assistant professor of geography at Ohio State University and co-author of the study.
Pellegrini and Kristen Gibson, a doctoral student in geography at Ohio State, presented results of their research March 26 in Honolulu, HI at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers.
The researchers studied deed transfer records from 1995 in Franklin County, Ohio, to find people who moved from one home to another within the county. They also used survey data collected for another study by Hazel Morrow-Jones, associate professor of city and regional planning at Ohio State. The survey included 313 people identified from the deed transfer records whose first home was in the city of Columbus. Pellegrini and Gibson compared the 169 households who moved within the city limits to the 144 households who moved from Columbus to one of the nearby suburbs.
The survey asked movers which factors -- home, neighborhood or schools -- were most important both in causing them to move from their old house and in helping them to choose a new one.
"In general, we found that neighborhood characteristics seemed most important to people in deciding to move in the first place," Pellegrini said. "But people were most concerned about characteristics of the home when choosing a new place."
But in addition to looking at new home characteristics, people who moved to the suburbs were also concerned about schools. Almost 60 percent of the people who moved to the suburbs said the reputation of the schools was an important factor in their choice of a new neighborhood, compared to 40 percent of those who stayed in the city. Given this result, it was not surprising that more people who moved to the suburbs had children who were under five years of age than did those who stayed in the city.
More people who moved to the suburbs were also of child-rearing age (30 to 39) and married, while people who stayed in the city were more likely to be over age 50 and divorced.
"It was interesting to us that neighborhood racial composition was more important to those who moved within the city limits," Pellegrini said. "People who stayed in the city evidently enjoyed the diversity they found there." About 18 percent of those who stayed in the city cited diversity as an important reason for choosing their new neighborhood, compared to less than 10 percent of those who moved to the suburbs.
About 30 percent of those who stayed in the city said closeness to family and friends was an important point for choosing their new neighborhood. Only 18 percent of those who moved to the suburbs agreed.
The cost of the new home was an important factor for 81 percent of those who stayed in the city. Significantly fewer people moving to the suburbs -- 69 percent -- said cost was an important factor. This corresponded to findings that new suburban residents were more likely to have household incomes between $80,000 and $100,000, while more of those who stayed in the city had incomes of $20,000 to $40,000. Those who moved to the suburbs were also more likely to have a bachelor's degree.
"Our results suggest that residential mobility has an impact on the composition of the central city," Pellegrini said. "The fact that those with higher incomes and those with young children are moving out of the city could hurt the vitality of urban areas."
The results of this and similar studies may help policy makers consider ways to stem the tide of middle and upper-class families moving out of the cities. "Some of the most important factors in retaining city residents -- such as improved schools -- will be difficult to implement," Pellegrini said. "But city officials need to target those people who are leaving and develop programs that will make the central cities more attractive."
Written by Jeff Grabmeier, 614-292-8457; Grabmeier.1@osu.edu