A regional scale temporal analysis of the net migration patterns of elderly persons over time

New England counties are grouped into categories using graphic displays of five decades of net migration rates for young and old elderly persons. Linear functions composed of social, economic, and geographic variables discriminate among the categories, yielding the following associations: positive rate counties are long-standing retirement and recreation areas; negative rate counties have large, old, declining cities; turnaround counties are nonmetropolitan counties with recently developed retirement/recreation facilities; miscellaneous counties include suburban counties with a temporary peak in net migration rates. The counties' patterns are relatively similar for young-old and old-old persons over the five decades.