Tied Staying on the Rise? Declining Migration among Co-Breadwinner Couples in the United States, 1990s to 2010s

This study examines a possible connection between shifting gender and family norms and declining internal migration. Using data from the 1989-1998 and 2009-2018 Annual Social and Economic Supplements of the Current Population Survey, we examine whether co-breadwinner married couples have become less likely to migrate within the US relative to couples with a sole or primary breadwinner. We find a general U-shaped association between wives' share of a married couple's income and that couple's likelihood of moving across state or county lines; in both time periods, couples were least likely to move when their incomes were roughly equal. However, we find this U-shaped pattern grew more pronounced in the 2010s compared with the 1990s: Over time, co-breadwinner couples became increasingly less likely to move relative to other married couples. Given that family migration decision-making has historically been gendered, this suggests dual-career married couples have become less willing to uproot women's careers for the benefit of men's. We argue the most likely reason for this change in behavior is a shift in norms governing the gender division of labor-in particular, a shift away from the cultural model of the male breadwinner. Based on a decomposition analysis, we estimate this change explains about one-third of the overall decline in migration among married couples ages 25-39 between the 1990s and 2010s.