Volume 29 - Article 28 | Pages 767–796  

Putting on the moves: Individual, household, and community-level determinants of residential mobility in Canada

By Ravi Pendakur, Nathan Young

Abstract

Background: Internal residential mobility is an important contributor to economic vitality, helping to address gaps in the labour market, assisting regions to develop comparative advantages, and encouraging the circulation of skills, capital, and networks within a country. Mobility is, however, a complex sociological phenomenon influenced by individual, household, and community-level variables.

Objective: This article examines the combined impact of individual, household, and community characteristics on both short- and long-distance residential mobility in Canada. The study is motivated by a broader concern with economic development and community vitality, particularly in smaller towns and cities that have recently struggled to attract newcomers.

Methods: A series of multilevel random intercept regression models are run on Canadian census data from 2006. Canada-wide findings are compared to those for five sizes of community - from small towns with fewer than 10,000 people to major metropolitan cities.

Results: Despite the continued growth of major metropolitan areas, city size is not an attractor in and of itself. Rather, one of the most powerful draws for both small towns and large cities is the diversity of the existing population, as measured by the proportion of residents who are immigrants and/or visible minorities.

Conclusions: These findings challenge some long-held stereotypes about rural living, and suggest that rural development strategies ought to include measures for enhancing diversity as a means of attracting all types of internal migrants to small towns and cities.

Author's Affiliation

• Ravi Pendakur - Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Italy EMAIL
• Nathan Young - University of Ottawa, Canada EMAIL

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

The pitfalls and benefits of using administrative data for internal migration research: An evaluation of Australia’s Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA)
Volume 51 - Article 22    | Keywords: administrative data, Australia, internal migration

Child anemia and the 2008 food price crisis in Senegal
Volume 51 - Article 20    | Keywords: anemia, food security, maternal-infant health, nutrition, population health, urbanization

Separation as an accelerator of housing inequalities: Parents’ and children’s post-separation housing careers in Sweden
Volume 49 - Article 4    | Keywords: divorce, family, housing, income inequality, neighborhood, parental separation, residential mobility, stratification

Migration’s contribution to the urban transition: Direct census estimates from Africa and Asia
Volume 48 - Article 24    | Keywords: migration, population growth, urbanization

Aligning household decision-making with work and education: A comparative analysis of women’s empowerment
Volume 48 - Article 19    | Keywords: autonomy, cross-national comparison, decision-making, developing countries, development, gender, gender inequalities, latent class analysis, women empowerment