Using moving-industry data to depict U.S. migration patterns

"Migration analysis is hindered by the lack of up-to-date migration data. This paper examines the feasibility of using information from the American Moving Conference (AMC), the trade organization of the moving industry, to develop timely estimates of gross in- and out-migration and net migration rates at the state level. When adjusted for the spatially varying size of migrant households and the spatially varying market share of the professional moving industry, the number of AMC inbound and outbound shipments provides useful, but slightly imperfect, estimates of migration in 1990 and 1991. Viewed as a time series, adjusted AMC shipment data accurately reveal the major migration stories of the last decade. AMC-based estimates for 1992, 1993, and 1994 provide a picture of state in- and out-migration for years in which official data are not yet available."