39.8 million Americans moved house in 2006. Nearly one-third of all people living in renter-occupied housing units lived elsewhere a year earlier. The moving rate for people living in owner-occupied housing units was considerably lower, at 7 percent. Nearly half of the reasons given for moving were housing related, such as wanting a bigger or smaller house.

Most movers stayed within the same county (62 percent), while 20 percent moved to where they lived from a different county within the same state; 14 percent moved from a different state and 3 percent moved from abroad.

Census figures for mobility of people show that:

The moving rate of Americans, at 14 percent, was unchanged from 2005.

The West had the highest moving rate (16 percent), followed by the South (15 percent), the Midwest (13 percent) and the Northeast (10 percent).

Hispanics had the highest moving rate (18 percent), followed by blacks (17 percent), Asians (14 percent) and non-Hispanic whites (12 percent).

For the population 16 and older, 24 percent of those who were unemployed in 2006 lived in a different place a year earlier. This compares with 14 percent of those who were employed in 2006 and 10 percent for those not in the labour force.