Abstract
This paper examines how individual characteristics and structural factors have changed in determining Jewish internal migration in the U.S. between 1985–1990 and 1995–2000. Multinomial logistic regression analysis of the 1990 and 2000 National Jewish Population Surveys shows that socio-demographic characteristics have both increased their power to explain variation in 5-year migration and have become more similar for intra- and interstate migration. Further analysis added migration status at the beginning-of-period, state context of residence characteristics, and ethnic concentration to the explanatory variables. Results from logistic regression analysis, which was limited to interstate mobility, were very much in accordance with the observations of the single-level analysis of the socio-demographic variables. Additional findings suggest that previous mobility increases subsequent interstate migration; that per capita income does not have a meaningful effect on migration; that unemployment encourages migration (yet later this relationship turned negative); and that warm climate deters migration. The importance of ethnic concentration has weakened over time albeit maintained statistically significant. Finally, when the two surveys were integrated into one data set, “time” enhances the tendency of Jews to migrate. The results are discussed in the context of ethnic diversity in contemporary America.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Five-year interstate migration among American Jews has increased between 1965–1970 and 1985–1990 from 9.6% to 11.2%, respectively (Rebhun 1997a).
The studies cited above, e.g. Rebhun (2002, 2003) and Goldstein and Goldstein (1996), used data from the 1970/1 and 1990 National Jewish Population Surveys. Both surveys are random samples of the entire Jewish population of the United States including marginal Jews as well as people closely identified with the organized Jewish community, covering different geographic regions of the country and appropriate proportions according to size of the Jewish community. For more information on NJPS-1970/1 see: Lazerwitz (1978), Massarik and Chenkin (1973); discussion of the methodology of the NJPS-1990 is provided in the following section “Data”.
Several community studies also directed attention to the relationships between socio-demographic characteristics and migration. Due to their local focus the data were limited to in-migrants (while national surveys cover also out-migration). Likewise, these relationships have seldom been tested through multivariate techniques nor have they followed trends over time. The findings that emerged from different local studies were not always consistent across communities. Cohen (1983) and Goldscheider (1986) used data from the 1975 Greater Boston Jewish study and showed that people born outside the studied area, and especially recent migrants, were young and had a high proportion of singles or families with no children; these in-migrants were also highly educated and, on the average, their income was lower than that of the more veteran Jewish inhabitants. A later study of the same community from 1985 indicated very similar socio-demographic selectivity of migrants as compared to local-born Jews which was further reflected in the larger concentration of the former in professional occupations (Rebhun 1991). Jewish in-migrants to Greater Philadelphia were also found to be disproportionately young, single college educated (Rebhun 1991). Goldstein (1993), based on a survey from 1987, showed that recent migrants to Rhode Island, both men and women, had the highest levels of education; these gradually declined with longer duration in the State, and the lowest rates were found among those who had always lived in Rhode Island. Among most age groups, recent male migrants were found disproportionately to be professionals, whereas the findings for women were less clear. A large number of professionals was found among the group of intermediate duration in Rhode Island while the most recent arrivals had a considerably high proportion of managers. Areas relatively new to massive Jewish settlement, such as Los Angeles, have attracted less selective migrants with their social and economic characteristics being largely similar to those who were born in the area (Rebhun 1991). Many of the Jewish migrants to Southern Florida, being relatively elderly, were motivated by climate and health considerations while others, with slightly different age and other socio-economic characteristics, were attracted by work-related factors and the desire to be near a large Jewish community.
This group includes people with no religion, or a religion theologically compatible with Judaism who also do not consider themselves Jewish, but have a Jewish mother and/or father. This group accounts for approximately one-fifth of the ‘core’ Jewish population (Kotler-Berkowitz et al. 2003).
Conceivably, any “time” differences observed between 1990 and 2000 may partially reflect the necessary difference in definition of the target population in the two surveys, although we have no way of tracing any such effect. One-fifth of the sample (“Jewish connected”) may differ somewhat from the remaining core population mainly in the extent to which their identity is associated with demographic and socio-economic characteristics which jointly may determine their geographic behavior. For example, people with strong Jewish identity might be less inclined to move, especially at older ages and with health problems, if the religious community and congregants are a source of emotional caring or instrumental support. Similarly, if socio-economic characteristics among committed Jews, such as being self-employed, is positively associated with economic relations with other Jews, this will deter moves to other locations as compared with their more Jewish peripheral counterparts. Likewise, contextual factors are likely to be differently evaluated by specific sub-populations within the faith; among other considerations, living in areas with desirable climate will be weighted differently vis-à-vis the availability of religious services and infrastructure depending on self-defined Jewish belonging. Such hypothesized interaction effects between socio-demographic characteristics, or area context factors, and the nature of Jewish identity on migration should be kept in mind when assessing the results of the present investigation.
Unlike the U.S. census, which defines a local migration as an intercounty move, NJPS has specifically referred to city or town.
Intrastate migration, as used here, may encompass also intrametropolitan residential mobility, namely, people moving from a central city to an adjoining suburban county, thus being a suburbanizing migratory move. Yet, over time (1990–2000), the likelihood of such moves being suburbanization phenomena has somewhat diminished given the overall decline in the proportion of American Jews living in metropolitan areas (Rebhun and Goldstein 2006).
Besides a handful of states (e.g. Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey) for which data on possible days of sunshine were available for cities other than those with the highest proportion of Jews. Nevertheless, given the size and physical structure of these state the differences in climate between the cities are likely to be very small. Data on the size of Jewish populations by major cities were derived from: Schwartz and Scheckner (2000, pp. 249–258).
It should be noted that a similar examination for data from the 1970/1 NJPS and 1990 NJPS, both of which comprehensively cover the “core” Jewish population, revealed statistically significant and strong positive effects of “time” (1990 vs. 1970) on interstate migration (Rebhun 1997b). Thus, we believe that our results here are robust beyond some possible influence also of the differing definition of Jewish identity between 1990 and 2000.
References
Abbott, A. (2001). Time matters: On theory and method. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Alba, R., & Nee, V. (2003). Remaking the American mainstream: Assimilation and contemporary immigration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Berry, B. J. L. (1973). The human consequences of urbanization. New York: St. Martin’s.
Bogue, D. J. (1959). The population of the United States. New York: The Free Press of Glencoe.
Cadwallader, M. (1992). Migration and residential mobility: Macro and micro approaches. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.
Chenkin, A. (1986). Jewish population in the United States, 1985. American Jewish Year Book, 86, 219–230.
Clark, W. A. V. (1992) Residential references and residential choices in a multiethnic context. Demography, 29, 451–466.
Cohen, S. M. (1983). American modernity and Jewish identity. New York: Tavistock Publications.
DellaPergola, S. (2005). Was it the demography? A reassessment of U.S. Jewish population estimates, 1945–2001. Contemporary Jewry, 25, 85–131.
Eisenstadt, S. N. (1968). Comparative perspectives on social change. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company.
Foulkes, M., & Newbold, B. (2000). Migration propensities, patterns, and the role of human capital: Comparing Mexican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican interstate migration, 1985–1990. Professional Geographer, 52, 133–145.
Frey, W. H. (1995a). The new geography of population shifts. In R. Farley (Ed.), State of the union: America in the 1990s, Vol. 2: Social trends (pp. 271–336). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Frey, W. H. (1995b). Immigration and internal migration ‘flight’ from US metropolitan areas: Toward a new demographic balkanization. Urban Studies, 32, 733–757.
Goldscheider, C. (1967). Fertility of the Jews. Demography, 4, 196–209.
Goldscheider, C. (1986). Jewish continuity and change: Emerging patterns in America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Goldscheider, F. & Goldscheider, C. (1994). Leaving and returning home in 20th century America. Population Bulletin, Vol. 48, no. 4. Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau, Inc.).
Goldstein, S. (1969). Socioeconomic differentials among religious groups in the United States. American Journal of Sociology, 74, 612–631.
Goldstein, S. (1993). Jews on the move: Implications for national and local communities in the United States. In U. O. Schmelz, & S. DellaPergola (Eds.), Papers in Jewish demography 1989 (pp. 76–103). Jerusalem: The Hebrew University.
Goldstein, S., & Goldstein A. (1996). Jews on the move: Implications for Jewish identity. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Gurak, D. T., & Kritz, M. M. (2000). The interstate migration of U.S. immigrants: Individual and contextual determinants. Social Forces, 78, 1017–1039.
Halfacree, K. (2004). A utopian imagination in migration’s terra incognita? Acknowledging the non-economic worlds of migration decision-making. Population, Space and Place, 10, 239–253.
Kobrin, F. E., & Speare, A. Jr. (1983). Out-migration and ethnic communities. International Migration Review, 17, 425–444.
Kosmin, B. A., Goldstein, S., Waksberg, J., Lerer, N., Keysar, A., & Scheckner, J. (1991). Highlights of the CJF 1990 national Jewish population survey. New York: Council of Jewish Federations.
Kosmin, B. A., & Scheckner, J. (1996). Jewish population in the United States, 1995. American Jewish Year Book, 96, 171–191.
Kotler-Berkowitz, L., Cohen, S. M., Ament, J., Klaff, V., Mott, F., & Peckerman-Neuman, D. (2003). The national Jewish population survey 2000–01: Strength, challenge and diversity in the American Jewish population. New York: United Jewish Communities.
Kritz, M. M., & Nogle, J. M. (1994). Nativity concentration and internal migration among the foreign-born. Demography, 31, 509–524.
Lazerwitz, B. (1977). The community variable in Jewish identification. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 16, 361–369.
Lazerwitz, B. (1978). An estimate of a rare population group: The U.S. Jewish Population. Demography, 15, 389–394.
Lee, E. S. (1966). A theory of migration. Demography, 3, 47–57.
Lichter, D. T. (1982). The migration of dual-worker families: Does the wife’s job matter? Social Science Quarterly, 63, 48–57.
Lieberson, S., & Waters, M. C. (1988). From many strands: Ethnic and racial groups in contemporary America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Long, L. (1988). Migration and residential mobility in the United States. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Massarik, F., & Chenkin, A. (1973). United States national Jewish population study: A first report. American Jewish Year Book, 74, 264–306.
Massey, D. S. (1990). Social structure, household strategies, and the cumulative causation of migration. Population Index, 56, 3–26.
Massey, D. D., & Mullan, B. P. (1984). Processes of Hispanic and Black spatial assimilation. American Journal of Sociology, 89, 836–873.
Michalos, A. C. (1997). Migration and the quality of life: A review essay. Social Indicators Research, 39, 121–166.
Miller, E. (1973). Is out-migration affected by economic conditions. Southern Economic Journal, 39, 396–405.
Newman, W. M., & Halvorson, P. L. (1979). American Jews: Patterns of geographic distribution and changes, 1952–1971. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 18, 183–193.
Pyle, R. E. (2006). Trends in religious stratification: Have religious group socioeconomic distinctions declined in recent decades? Sociology of Religion, 67, 61–79.
Rabinowitz, J., Kim, I., & Lazerwitz, B. (1992). Metropolitan size and participation in religio-ethnic communities. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 31, 339–345.
Rabinowitz, J., Lazerwitz, B., & Kim, I. (1995). Changes in the influence of community size on primary group, religious, and Jewish communal involvement—1971 and 1990. Sociology of Religion, 56, 417–432.
Rebhun, U. (1991). Jewish identity and demographic transformation among American Jews: The impact of place of residence and geographical mobility in the 1980s, unpublished M.A. thesis, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
Rebhun, U. (1997a). Changing patterns of internal migration 1970–1990: A comparative analysis of Jews and whites in the United States. Demography, 34, 213–223.
Rebhun, U. (1997b). Geographic mobility and religioethnic identification among American Jews 1970–1990, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
Rebhun, U. (2002). Directions, magnitude, and efficiency of interregional migration, 1970–1990: Jews and whites in the United States compared. The Review of Regional Studies, 32, 37–68.
Rebhun, U. (2003). The changing roles of human capital, state context of residence, and ethnic bonds in interstate migration: American Jews 1970–1990. International Journal of Population Geography, 9, 3–21.
Rebhun, U. (2004). Jewish identification in contemporary America: Gans’s symbolic ethnicity and religiosity theory revisited. Social Compass, 51, 349–366.
Rebhun, U., & Goldstein, S. (2006). Changes in the geographic dispersion and mobility of American Jews, 1990–2001. The Jewish Journal of Sociology, 48, 5–33.
Ritchey, P. N. (1975). The effect of minority group status on fertility: A re-examination of concepts. Population Studies, 29, 249–257.
Ritchey, P. N. (1976). Explanations of migration. Annual Review of Sociology, 2, 363–404.
Ritterband, P. (1986). The new geography of Jews in North America. New insights on a changing Jewish community. North American Jewish Data Bank, Occasional Papers, No. 2. New York: The Graduate School and University Center, CUNY.
Sandefur, G. D. (1991). Migration, race and ethnicity, 1960–1980. International Migration Review, 25, 392–407.
Sayer, L. C., Cohen, P. N., & Casper, L. M. (2005). Women, men, and work. In R. Farley, & J. Haaga (Eds.), The American people: Census 2000 (pp. 76–106). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Schmelz, U. O., & DellaPergola, S. (1992). World Jewish population, 1990. American Jewish Year Book, 92, 484–512.
Schwartz, J., & Scheckner, J. (2000). Jewish population in the United States, 1999. American Jewish Year Book, 100, 242–264.
Shumway, M J., Greg, H. (1996). Self-selection, earnings and Chicano migration: Differences between return and onward migrants. International Migration Review, 30, 979–994.
Smith, C., & Faris, R. (2005). Socioeconomic inequality in the American religious system: An update and assessment. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 44, 95–104.
Woroby, T. (2000). The benefit of interdisciplinary approaches to migration research. SAIS Review, 20, 201–204.
Wright, R.A., Ellis, M., & Reibel, M. (1997). The linkage between immigration and internal migration in large metropolitan areas in the United States. Economic Geography, 73, 234–254.
Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this paper was presented, as a poster, at the 2007 annual meeting of the Population Association of America, held in New York. The authors wish to thank Dalia Sagi for her assistance in data analysis, and Judith Even for editorial assistance both from the Division of Jewish Demography and Statistics, The A. Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. We are also grateful to Alice Goldstein for kindly reading earlier drafts of this article and making valuable suggestions. The comments on the article received from two anonymous referees of PRPR were especially helpful. Responsibility for the contents of this article rests solely with the authors.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendices
Appendices
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rebhun, U., Goldstein, S. Dynamics of Internal Migration Determinants for American Jews, 1985–1990 and 1995–2000. Popul Res Policy Rev 28, 143–167 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-008-9080-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-008-9080-y