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TODAY Wednesday 17 December 1997 Each weekday. Conn Nugent on what's new in the world, on the site.

 

TODAY IN THE WORLD: Ramblin' Man (Ramblin' Woman)

The most consistently rewarding Website in the world -- I refer, of course, to the United States Census Bureau -- has just posted a marvelous summary of its annual survey of American comings and goings. The summary, written by Kristin Hansen, is entitled "Geographical Mobility: March 1995 to March 1996."

Americans are the itchiest people in the world (often expressed in economic analyses as "flexible labor force"). 42.5 million of us uprooted ourselves in the twelve months covered by the survey, i.e. 16.3%. This current rate is high by global standards, but not by domestic measures. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Ms. Hansen reports, the rate held at around 20%; last year's figure was typical of the less frenetic 80s and 90s.

Age is a big factor in the variances. People in their twenties move twice as much as anybody else; black people and Latinos move more than white people mostly because they're younger on the aggregate. White people, on the other hand, move from state to state more frequently.

According to the Census Bureau delineation of regional boundaries (West; Midwest; South; Northeast), net migration is at virtually zero among West, South, and Midwest, while the Northeast is a net contributor to the other three. It's not that the Northeast is losing population (natural increase and immigration from abroad see to that); it's that its population growth curve is flatter. Migrants from Northeast to West outnumber migrants from West to Northeast 2.6 to 1.

As an urbanite and an environmentalist, the saddest information found in the summary is that suburbs grow while cities shrink. Despite some welcome hoopla about downtown revivals, the data tell a continuing story of relative decline: central cities had a national net loss of 2.4 million people, and migrants from cities to suburbs outnumbered their opposites by more than 2.2 million. More people in suburbs equals more driving, more lawns, bigger dwellings, less habitat. Enviros worry about mining and grazing in the West, but neither holds a candle to subdivision growth as an inflictor of harm to ecosystems.

Only immigrants from abroad bucked that trend. 1.4 million people legally entered the United States during the twelve months under study: 0.7 million went to the suburbs, 0.6 million went to the cities, and 0.1 million went to rural areas. Of people already in the US, net migration was 2.2 million to the suburbs, 0.3 to rural areas, and -2.4 from the cities. The overall contribution of immigration to environmental headaches can't be gainsaid, but immigrants are saving the cities with their labor, money, and enthusiasm, and enviros should cherish cities.

I speak from the smug position of a city dweller in a small apartment who walks and rides trains for getting around. But it may be just a phase. I certainly dream of country living and becoming utterly auto-dependent in the process. Recently I drew up a list of my domiciles since June of my senior year in college, not quite 30 years ago. By "domicile" I mean a place where you put all your stuff and received mail. I've lived in 35 such places in that 30 year span. Call it flexibility, call it a neural disorder, call it an aggravated symptom of the national spirit of footloose curiosity and discontent -- whatever, I got it.

 

TODAY ON THE SITE

For a spirited debate on the big question of immigration, check out the Population feature of our In The Trenches section.

 

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To access more "Today" columns, click "Archives" below.