Americans Staying Put Amid Recession

The recession, with its attendant falloff in home prices and job opportunities, has pared back the traditional American activity of relocation to its lowest level since World War II. A new study shows that 12% of Americans moved in the last two years, compared to 14% earlier this decade, 17% in the '90s, and 20% in the '50s and '60s. Usually footloose young people have shown the steepest dropoff.

One researcher thinks the effect of the increasingly sedentary baby boomers has been exacerbated by housing prices, the credit crisis, and the recession. “This triple whammy of forces made it riskier for would-be homebuyers to find financing, would-be sellers to receive good value for their home, and potential long-distance movers to find employment,” he tells the Washington Post. (More recession stories.)