residential mobility

Definitions

1. The actual frequency with which individuals have changed their residence. It is known that the frequency with which individuals change their residence during their adulthood is associated with openness to experiences and less conscientiousness. Individuals in some professions (e.g., bankers, consultants) are more likely to change their residence than individuals in others (e.g., farmers).
2. The actual frequency with which individuals in a given neighborhood or society have changed their residence during a certain period of time. On the average, about 50% of individuals who live in the United States change their residence over a 5-year period. Some cities (e.g., Denver, Phoenix) have much higher residential mobility than others (e.g., Pittsburgh, Philadelphia).
3. The freedom with which individuals can change their residence as they wish. The degree to which individuals can choose the location of their residence at their own will. For instance, the United States is a high-mobility society because citizens have freedom to live wherever they want 
   to. In contrast, 17th-century Japan was low in residential mobility because Japanese in the lowest caste (eta and hinin) at that time did not have the right to choose their place of residence.

The distinction between the first two definitions and the last definition is important because some societies are considered high in terms of one definition but low in the other. For instance, Denmark is high in residential mobility in terms of the right to choose the place of residence. However, it is low in terms of actual residential mobility, because many Danes choose to live in the same place for an extended period.

Operationalizations. Residential mobility at the individual level is often assessed by the number of times individuals changed their residence or the city/town of their residence. In contrast, residential mobility at the collective level is often assessed using census data, which provides the information regarding the proportion of people who lived in the same house as in the previous census data collection, the proportion of people who lived in the same county as in the previous census data collection, or the proportion of people who lived in the same state as in the previous census data collection at the various levels (ranging from neighborhood block to state). – soi, FM