Mobility

Survey Details: Conducted October 2008
File Release Date: 4 December 2009

Survey Details: Conducted October 2008 File Release Date: 4 December 2009

By nearly two-to-one, the public says it prefers a hotter place to live over one with a colder climate. No surprise, then, that San Diego, Tampa and Orlando rank at the top of places to live for those who favor a balmy climate.

“Magnet” states are those in which a high share of the adults who live there now moved there from some other state. “Sticky” states are those in which a high share of the adults who were born there live there now.

Suburbanites are significantly more satisfied with their communities than are residents of cities, small towns or rural areas, but that doesn't mean Americans want to live there.

Not even a housing-led recession can shake Americans' faith in the blessings of homeownership.

In the smackdown between Big Macs and caffe lattes, Americans manage to typecast themselves by just about every demographic and ideological characteristic under the sun.

Nearly half of the public would rather live in a different type of community from the one they're living in now -- a sentiment that is most prevalent among city dwellers.

Most Americans have moved to a new community at least once in their lives, although a notable number — nearly four-in-ten — have never left the place in which they were born.

Despite pro-diversity attitudes expressed in a Pew survey, American communities appear to have grown more politically and economically homogenous in recent decades.

Despite the imploding stock market, the looming recession, the unpopular president and the dismal political polls, there's very good news in the one realm of life that’s always been a special sanctuary for Republicans. Personal happiness.