To Get a Raise, Move Out of State

(Bloomberg) -- Americans who move see green.

Geographical mobility in the U.S. tends to be relatively income-focused. About 58% of residents live in the state where they were born. And only 23.3 million adults between the ages of 25 and 44 live outside their birth state, according to newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

But the benefit of moving shows in income data. People born in a different state than their state of residence enjoy a median annual income that is more than $5,700 higher -- $35,543 compared to $29,791 -- than people who reside in their birth state.

This is evident in poverty rates as well, with 13.8% of the people living in their birth state having earnings below the poverty level. This compares to only 10.4% for those who moved out of state.

Among Americans with incomes over $75,000, movers made up 21.3% of this group -- a larger bloc than foreign-born earners (16.6%), U.S. citizens born abroad to U.S. parents (15.8%) and Americans who don’t leave their home state (14.2%).

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Tanzi in Washington at atanzi@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Tanzi at atanzi@bloomberg.net, Chris Middleton

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