Retirement migration counties in the southeastern United States: geographic, demographic, and economic correlates

This article is a brief empirical attempt to identify rural areas in the Southeast United States that have consistently attracted older migrants since 1950 and to ascertain the social, demographic, and geographic characteristics of these areas of destination that differentiate them from otherwise (initially) similar areas. These counties are followed over the successive censuses from 1950 through 1990, identifying those that have consistently experienced elderly in-migration at a rate substantially greater than the overall level. These retirement counties are concentrated in Florida, on the fringes of or adjacent to metropolitan areas or in mountain and coastal locations. The article presents regression analysis of geographic, demographic, and economic/structural correlates of migration. This analysis suggests that retirees are attracted to coastal locations whose existing populations have consistently achieved some measure of prosperity and are not dissimilar from the retirees themselves.