The Makeup of Stuck America

In recent posts I've taken note of Americans’ declining mobility and looked at the states where people are more and less likely to move. Today, I look at the factors that are associated with states with low levels of mobility.

With the help of my Martin Prosperity Institute colleague Charlotta Mellander, we correlated the key social, economic and other factors that are associated with low mobility or what we're calling “stuck states”—those with higher percentages of people who were born in their current state of residence. Having a higher percentage of residents born in a state suggests a low rate of mobility in that state.