How many people moved into a given area within the past year? The US Census Bureau asks this question in its American Community Survey (ACS), an on-going, annual survey used to learn about the nation and its population. This month’s map shows the percentage of the population that moved within the past year in each census tract in Hampton Roads, based on 2016-2020 data. As we would expect, there appears to be a strong correlation with higher mobility in the tracts in or near military installations with significant military employment. Looking a little closer, there are also higher percentages of population mobility in tracts near some of the region’s universities and colleges such as ODU, William and Mary, Christopher Newport University, and Hampton University.

Click on the map to see a more detailed breakdown of the tracts. The population that moved is broken down into those who moved within the same county, those who moved from a different county in Virginia, those who moved from a different state, and those who moved from abroad.

The most geographically mobile locality overall in Hampton Roads is Williamsburg (34.8%). This is most likely due to the influence of transient college students on a relatively small population. Williamsburg also had the highest percentage of population that moved from a different county in Virginia (16.8%), moved from a different state (7.3%), and moved from abroad (3%). Norfolk was the highest for the population that moved within the same county (9.8%). The least mobile locality overall in Hampton Roads is Surry County (8.6%).

The table below summarizes population mobility by locality:

The data source is the 2016-2020 ACS 5-Year Estimates for the population 1-year and over. The percentages are estimates since the population is sampled for the ACS.