Regional Comparisons of Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Migration in the 1970s and 1980s: Age and Place Implications*

Over the last thirty years, nonmetropolitan regions across the United States have experienced volatile population shifts ranging from rapid growth to persistent decline. Several authors have suggested that the age structure of the population may contribute to these population trends. In the 1970s, the older baby boomers were entering labor and housing markets, while the younger boomers were enrolling in nonmetropolitan colleges and universities. By the 1980s, this large cohort was aging into a different stage in the life course. This article examines metropolitan and nonmetropolitan population shifts during the 1970s and 1980s within an age‐cohort framework. Using Public Use Microsample data from 1980 and 1990, the analysis explores relationships between housing market, labor market, place characteristics, and the migration flows of different age cohorts. The analysis focuses on cohort‐specific in‐migration to two regions: New England and the Four Corners states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. The results are consistent with a life‐course understanding of migration behavior, especially during the late 1970s, with older cohort shifts directed towards nonmetropolitan destinations and younger cohort shifts more influenced by labor and housing‐market variables. The results further demonstrate a large potential for future nonmetropolitan population growth, yet these growth experiences are likely to be regionally differentiated. These results have important policy implications for nonmetropolitan regions.     

Patterns of Growth and Change: Depicting the Impacts of Restructuring in Idaho

Geographers and other social scientists investigating the impact of economic and demographic restructuring have tended to focus on urban metropolitan areas. There has been much less exploration of the local impacts of such change in largely nonmetropolitan locales. Many of these nonmetropolitan regions, however, are some of the fastest growing in the U.S. This article addresses this issue by examining, at the county level, economic and population trends in the state of Idaho. Generally recognized for its agricultural outputs (such as potatoes), Idaho experienced a population growth rate of 18.1 percent during the 1990s, making it one of the fastest growing states in the U.S. However, population growth and the associated changes in the local economy were unevenly distributed across the state. This article develops a typology of growth and change, indicating patterns of growth related to two predominant trends: high–tech footloose capital investment and amenity– and tourism–related residential development. Implications of this analysis for future research are discussed.     

Business Services,Productivity, and Wages: Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Michigan Counties, 1977–1997

This article investigates the growth of business services (SIC73) in Michigan and models the relationship between the industry and local economic conditions in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties. The research makes four conclusions. First, SIC73 measures explain variance in manufacturing productivity. Second, SIC73 indicators explain variation in manufacturing and overall wages. Third, these relationships vary between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties. Despite growth in rural regions, SIC73 indicators more effectively predict wages and productivity in metropolitan counties. Hence, the localized benefits associated with SIC73 industries are more strongly associated with metropolitan economies. Fourth, the interdependencies that have developed between SIC73 industries and the manufacturing sector decrease over time in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan contexts. The article concludes with suggestions for future research.     

Business Services,Productivity, and Wages: Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Michigan Counties, 1977–1997

This article investigates the growth of business services (SIC73) in Michigan and models the relationship between the industry and local economic conditions in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties. The research makes four conclusions. First, SIC73 measures explain variance in manufacturing productivity. Second, SIC73 indicators explain variation in manufacturing and overall wages. Third, these relationships vary between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties. Despite growth in rural regions, SIC73 indicators more effectively predict wages and productivity in metropolitan counties. Hence, the localized benefits associated with SIC73 industries are more strongly associated with metropolitan economies. Fourth, the interdependencies that have developed between SIC73 industries and the manufacturing sector decrease over time in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan contexts. The article concludes with suggestions for future research.     

INTERACTIONS BETWEEN SPREAD-AND-BACKWASH,POPULATION TURNAROUND AND CORRIDOR EFFECTS IN THE INTER-METROPOLITAN PERIPHERY: A CASE STUDY

Three recurrent concepts in urban geography are examined in a single area within a portion of the inter-metropolitan periphery, primarily for the 1960-1980 period. This local-scale study attempts to replicate several findings of studies involving larger units dispersed over wider regions. In this portion of the inter-metropolitan periphery, spread-and-backwash was evident in the 1960s, followed by the population turnaround in the 1970s but only within the context of an urban corridor defined with respect to combined metropolitan and nonmetropolitan commuting areas as linked by major highways. The end of the turnaround was also corroborated in the area but there was not clear evidence of a return to an urban-linked growth pattern. This study suggests the existence of a complex rural-area pattern evolving around corridors and hierarchical sets of nonmetropolitan cities, rather than either a simple, uninterrupted march of metropolitanization across a rural landscape or the emergence of a high-tech society freed from such constraints as distance and rural/urban distinctions.     

THE GEOGRAPHY PLACEMENT SEMINAR: A COURSE SYLLABUS

This article examines linkages between recent domestic out-migration from immigrant gateway metropolitan areas and nonmetropolitan migration gains, based on data of the 1990 census, 1996 Current Population Survey, and population estimates for the 1990–1996 period from the Bureau of Census. Our analysis of these data suggests that there is a mirror image of migration patterns between high immigration metropolitan area losses and nonmetropolitan area gains. This is especially evident in the West with the relationship between Los Angeles and San Francisco areas' losses on the one hand, and the region's nonmetropolitan gains on the other. While pre-elderly and elderly retirees have contributed to these nonmetropolitan gains, much of it is attributable to the destination choices of suburban-like populations—Whites with children, not college educated, and with lower incomes—that have been leaving high immigration metropolitan areas. This new, more dispersed form of “White flight” holds the potential for reinvigorating smaller, nonmetropolitan communities, but creating, as well, new demographic divisions across space.     

Migration,Sources of Income,and Community Change in the Nonmetropolitan Northwest

During the late 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, the nonmetropolitan Northwest grew quite rapidly, narrowing the gap between the growth rates of the metropolitan Northwest, and oupacing national rates. This growth was largely the result of in-migration from regional and national metropolitan areas. Traditional economic base theory does not explain the recent growth, as employment levels in in the region's basic industries continue to stagnate and decline, and the sources of income for these in-migrants remain a mystery. This paper utilizes data from the 1990 Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) to determine the extent to which metropolitan-origin migrants are measurably different from oldtime nonmetropolitan residents on certain socioeconomic variables, in an attempt to understand the ways in which the newcomers survive financially. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) shows that newcomers are younger, earn less in wages and salary, receive more nonearnings income, and reside in more valuable housing compared with the resident population. Discriminant analysis shows that differences in the earned income measures are largely explained by age differences, while the nonearnings income and value of residence remainsignificantly higher for the metropolitan origin migrants even when age and earned income are controlled. While the analysis indicates that measurable socioeconomic differences do exist between the two populations, it appears that the current wave of growth and change in the nonmetropolitan Northwest is much more complicated than a simple newcomer-oldtimer dichotomy.     

AMENITY MIGRATION IN THE U.S. SIERRA NEVADA*

ABSTRACT. Since 1960 California's Sierra Nevada counties have ranked among the regions with the strongest relative population growth in the state. Reassessment of peripheral areas has been the main force driving population and settlement growth in the central Sierra Nevada of California and Nevada, termed “amenity migration” or “counterurbanization.” This study analyzes the impacts of amenity migrants—“urban refugees”—on socioeconomic conditions in high‐mountain regions. We define these regions as the “High Sierra,” comprising zones at elevations more than 1,800 meters above sea level. People who migrate to the High Sierra tend to be white and well educated, with considerable household earnings. Unlike the population in the foothills, these migrants are not senior citizens. Their demand for periodic or permanent residences has caused housing prices to increase enormously. As a result, a majority of homes are now priced well beyond the reach of local salaries, which may lead to potential conflict between locals and newcomers. The massive settlement expansion in high‐mountain areas requires a new approach to land‐use planning, one that takes functional regions into account. Therefore, it is expedient to reassess existing jurisdictional boundaries.     

THE FILTERING DOWN PROCESS IN GEORGIA: THE THIRD STAGE IN THE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

Branch plants have been a major factor in the filtering down process in Georgia. Industrial movement down the urban hierarchy seems in general to describe filtering down prior to about 1960, but metropolitan to nonmetropolitan filtering down has been more characteristic of the past twenty years. High versus low technology industries are differently involved in the filtering down process, with high technology industries dominating new branch plant location in nonmetropolitan areas.     

Migration,Sources of Income,and Community Change in the Nonmetropolitan Northwest

During the late 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, the nonmetropolitan Northwest grew quite rapidly, narrowing the gap between the growth rates of the metropolitan Northwest, and oupacing national rates. This growth was largely the result of in-migration from regional and national metropolitan areas. Traditional economic base theory does not explain the recent growth, as employment levels in in the region's basic industries continue to stagnate and decline, and the sources of income for these in-migrants remain a mystery. This paper utilizes data from the 1990 Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) to determine the extent to which metropolitan-origin migrants are measurably different from oldtime nonmetropolitan residents on certain socioeconomic variables, in an attempt to understand the ways in which the newcomers survive financially. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) shows that newcomers are younger, earn less in wages and salary, receive more nonearnings income, and reside in more valuable housing compared with the resident population. Discriminant analysis shows that differences in the earned income measures are largely explained by age differences, while the nonearnings income and value of residence remainsignificantly higher for the metropolitan origin migrants even when age and earned income are controlled. While the analysis indicates that measurable socioeconomic differences do exist between the two populations, it appears that the current wave of growth and change in the nonmetropolitan Northwest is much more complicated than a simple newcomer-oldtimer dichotomy.     

The Hoover Index of Population Concentration: A Correction and Update

Geographers have made extensive use of the Hoover index to measure the evenness with which population is distributed across territorial units. This paper corrects an error in the original county-based series for the United States, presented by Duncan et al. In Statistical Geography (1961) and often reproduced. We extend the series backward and forward in time to show population deconcentration at the county level from at least 1890 until 1910 (as low-density areas grew rapidly), a second round of deconcentration corresponding to the nonmetropolitan turnaround of the 1970s, and a third, much weaker round beginning around 1990 along with a modest resurgence of nonmetropolitan population growth. When states are used as the basis for computing the index, deconcentration has been a consistent pattern, except for 1940 to 1970, and for this exception we offer an explanation. We attempt to put these findings in the context of long- and short-term patterns of metropolitanization.     

METROPOLITAN,URBAN, AND RURAL COMMUTING AREAS: TOWARD A BETTER DEPICTION OF THE UNITED STATES SETTLEMENT SYSTEM

Discontent with the current definition of metropolitan areas and the lack of differentiation within nonmetropolitan territory provided the incentive for the research presented here. Census tracts rather than counties were used as the building blocks for assignment of tracts, not just to metropolitan areas, but also to larger towns (10,000 to 49,999) and to smaller urban places (2,500 to 9,999). The analysis used 1990 census-defined urbanized areas and tract-to-tract commuter flows. Results include a modest shift of population from metropolitan to nonmetropolitan, as well as a significant reduction in the areal size of metropolitan areas, disaggregation of many areas, and frequent reconfiguration to a more realistic settlement form. [Key words: metropolitan, urban-rural, commuting.]     

Immigrant Concentration and Domestic Migrant Dispersal: Is Movement to Nonometropolitan Areas “White flight”?

This article examines linkages between recent domestic out-migration from immigrant gateway metropolitan areas and nonmetropolitan migration gains, based on data of the 1990 census, 1996 Current Population Survey, and population estimates for the 1990–1996 period from the Bureau of Census. Our analysis of these data suggests that there is a mirror image of migration patterns between high immigration metropolitan area losses and nonmetropolitan area gains. This is especially evident in the West with the relationship between Los Angeles and San Francisco areas' losses on the one hand, and the region's nonmetropolitan gains on the other. While pre-elderly and elderly retirees have contributed to these nonmetropolitan gains, much of it is attributable to the destination choices of suburban-like populations—Whites with children, not college educated, and with lower incomes—that have been leaving high immigration metropolitan areas. This new, more dispersed form of “White flight” holds the potential for reinvigorating smaller, nonmetropolitan communities, but creating, as well, new demographic divisions across space.     

The Hoover Index of Population Concentration: A Correction and Update

Geographers have made extensive use of the Hoover index to measure the evenness with which population is distributed across territorial units. This paper corrects an error in the original county-based series for the United States, presented by Duncan et al. In Statistical Geography (1961) and often reproduced. We extend the series backward and forward in time to show population deconcentration at the county level from at least 1890 until 1910 (as low-density areas grew rapidly), a second round of deconcentration corresponding to the nonmetropolitan turnaround of the 1970s, and a third, much weaker round beginning around 1990 along with a modest resurgence of nonmetropolitan population growth. When states are used as the basis for computing the index, deconcentration has been a consistent pattern, except for 1940 to 1970, and for this exception we offer an explanation. We attempt to put these findings in the context of long- and short-term patterns of metropolitanization.     

我国耕地变化趋势与对策再探讨

本文分析了我国耕地预测研究的现状和存在的问题，利用统计资料对我国耕地减少的原因进行系统分析，对我国耕地变化趋势进行了新的预测，重点说明人口城镇化和劳动力非农化不但不是耕地减少的主要原因，而且是节约土地资源的有效对策。     

NEW APPROACHES TO DELINEATING METROPOLITAN AND NONMETROPOLITAN SETTLEMENT: GEOGRAPHERS DRAWING THE LINE

The federal government's Office of Management and Budget, with staff support from the Census Bureau's Population Division, is responsible for maintaining the statistical standard that provides criteria used to define metropolitan settlement and that delineates individual metropolitan areas for use in federal statistics. Review of the current standard, which dates from 1990, is now under way in conjunction with the 2000 census. Reviews of the emergence of the metropolitan form of settlement in the United States and of previous geospatial units representing metropolitan settlement are provided. A framework of geospatial units to represent the various elements of settlement at the close of the 20th century, including metropolitan and nonmetropolitan forms, is offered. Three papers that provide new approaches to delineating metropolitan and nonmetropolitan settlement in the United States are introduced. [Keywords: metropolitan and nonmetropolitan settlement, geospatial units of analysis, federal government, statistics.]     

EXPLANATIONS FOR THE INTENSIFICATION OF COUNTERURBANIZATION IN THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY *

Evaluating yearly net migration for the Federal Republic of Germany establishes the importance of demographic restructuring and government policies as explanations for the counterurbanization phenomenon. Counterurbanization, the spatial demographic deconcentration of regional population, is measured as an inverse relationship between the net migration rate and population sizes of functional urban regions. A counterurbanization pattern filtered-down from older to younger age-groups of the population, and appears related to an increasing preference for small-sized regions with natural amenities. For foreigners, a counterurbanization direction of movement can be explained by changes in immigration laws. While counterurbanization may be slowing down during the 1980s in certain developed countries, such as the United States, in the Federal Republic the phenomenon intensifies throughout the 1970–84 time period. Based on broad national demographic changes in combination with agespecific patterns of movement, this strong counterurbanization trend should continue well into the future.     

COMMUTING DISTANCE AND GENDER AMONG NONMETROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEES*

The applicability of metropolitan-derived explanations of gender differences in worktrip lengths is examined based on a sample of 435 university employees in the nonmetropolitan town of Blacksburg, VA. Women's worktrips are found to be longer than men's in contrast to metropolitan findings. This pattern results from the interaction of spatial structures of housing and employment with women's lower incomes, gender segregation of employment, and the tendency for married women to find jobs after their residence is established. Upward trends in female labor force participation rates and in nonmetropolitan growth require continued analysis of their joint impact on women's spatial behavior.     

THE SOURCES OF REGIONAL ELDERLY POPULATION GROWTH: MIGRATION AND AGING-IN-PLACE *

A region's elderly population has two sources of growth: net migration and the net aging-in-place of its resident population. This paper outlines a method for identifying the projected relative contribution of these two sources of elderly population growth over time, and illustrates it with data for the states of Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, and New York. The sources of elderly population growth differ between regions and over time.     

我国山地垂直人文带研究综述

山地垂直人文带是叠加在山地垂直自然带上的一种人文现象,包括文化、民族、宗教、语言、人口、聚落等人文事象和人类的一切活动.我国山地垂直人文带的研究起步较晚,相关科研工作相对滞后,研究成果主要集中在山地土地利用、山地农业、山地人口、山地聚落、山地民族等方面.今后对山地人文带的研究应加强理论研究,在研究方法上注重定性与定量相结合以及新技术、跨学科知识的应用.研究方向也应作适当调整,山地聚落类型的机理与模式研究、山地文化在垂直方向上的研究应得到重视.