Going home: aged return migration in the United States 1965-1970

Two related issues concerning aged return migration are explored in this paper. They are: (1) the common features of states that strongly attract their migration-prone native sons and daughters, and (2) what might account for the differences, if any, in the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of return and non-return migrants. Individual characteristics of persons, age 60 and over, from the 1970 1-in-100 Public Use Sample of Basic Records were analyzed. A cluster of Sunbelt states, and Utah, strongly attract return migrants; otherwise they tend to be attracted by states which are popular destinations for aged migration in general. Using discriminant function analysis and tests for mean differences of migrant characteristics, it was found that return migrants tend to be negatively selected on socioeconomic characteristics relative to other interstate migrants. Comparisons of migrant characteristics in streams from New York and Ohio to Florida with counterstreams from Florida to New York and Ohio were consistent with a model of secondary post-retirement moves to state of birth when service and social support needs increase.