Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Here's a tip for all you real estate professionals out there. Home is where the heart is!
According to an Upshot analysis of data from a comprehensive survey of older Americans, the average American citizen lives within 18 miles of their mother, proving that in the eyes of most of us, there's no place quite like home.
One of the most surprising findings of the 2008 Health and Retirement study is that Americans have become less mobile, especially in the case of those with lower educations and lower earnings potential. As a result, few venture far from their home towns.
The study, which was reported by the New York Times, also suggests that this trend is likely to continue because of the aging baby boomer generation. People in this demographic are going to require more care from their adult children, while families with two working parents will require more assistance in looking after the kids, and there's no better child carer to have than your own mom and dad.
"Wealthier people can afford to pay for services like child and elder care, while low-income families are more likely to rely on nearby relatives," the article authors noted. "Career and income affect which type of payment families choose. The most-cited reason for living near home is the tug of family ties, while the most-cited reason for leaving is job opportunities."
The data shows that America is overwhelmed with close-knit families, with just twenty percent of people living more than a couple of hours away from their parents.
The Northeast and the South are the regions where families generally live closer together, while those living on the West Coast and in the Mountain States usually live a bit further away. Interestingly the study found that married couples also tend to live a little further from mom and dad than singles. Finally, the data shows that women are less likely to leave their hometown than men.
