ABSTRACT
Internal migration is but one of the elements in the redistribution of population within a country, but for the United States it has been by all odds the most important. Long-distance migration is expensive as well as disruptive of family ties and associations. Therefore as distance increases from a given area, the number of migrants from that locale tends to diminish. The selectivity of migration is almost as important as the volume of migration. In long-distance migration, males predominate, but for shorter moves there is little difference in male and female rates. However, since marriage is often attended by migration, females tend to migrate at somewhat younger ages than males simply because they marry younger. While American rates of internal migration, as judged by the standards of any other Western country, are always high, they vary considerably from time to time and from place to place, depending upon political events and economic opportunities.
