Lifetime Migration in the United States as of 2006-2010: Measures, Patterns, and Applications

Though most US migration analyses in recent years have relied upon one-year and five-year residence information, analyses of lifetime migration may be more revealing of state-level trends in relative ability to retain the native born and attract in-migrants from other states and abroad, and of the effect of such exchanges on the composition of its population in terms of education and other characteristics. This paper reviews a number of measures of native retention and migrant attraction, and examines the formal relationships among these measures; presents some state-specific lifetime migration measures as of 2006-2010, with special attention to education and the impact of immigration; analyzes the degree of change in these lifetime measures centering on 1990; and uses these measures to decompose a state's proportion of college graduates into elements that highlight the relative importance of retention and attraction and illustrates how these can contribute to appropriate policy formulation.