Inter-County Migration and the Spatial Concentration of Poverty: Comparing Metro and Nonmetro Patterns*

Abstract

We use panel data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to document the changing volume and rate of intercounty migration among the poor. We evaluate whether the exchange of migrants between metro and nonmetro counties has exacerbated spatial disparities in poverty and whether some nonmetro counties have become “collecting grounds” for America's poor. The PSID highlights exceptionally high rates of intercounty migration among the nonmetro population, but especially among the poor. The results show that rural poor migrants circulate among nonmetro counties, often from one poor county to an even poorer one. This circulation of poor rural migrants has exacerbated the concentration of poverty in the most economically disadvantaged nonmetro counties. Concentrated poverty also is exacerbated by the migration of the “best and brightest” from nonmetro-to-metro counties, which also is associated with upward residential attainment (to counties with lower poverty rates). Significantly, metro-to-nonmetro migration is both selective of the poor and strongly associated with downward residential mobility to poorer nonmetro counties. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that poor nonmetro counties have become collecting grounds for America's poor.