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Geography: Regional Residence and Mobility

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The U.S. Census divides the country into four major regions: the Northeast, Midwest, South and West. Traditionally, the Northeast has been home to the largest proportion of American Jews, and more Jews continue to live in the Northeast than in any other region (see Table 6). However, migration over the years to the South and West has resulted in the regional distribution of the Jewish population -- especially the native-born population -- shifting slowly to the Sunbelt, a pattern which mirrors the U.S. population generally.

Just over four in ten Jewish adults currently reside in the Northeast, more than a tenth live in the Midwest , and slightly less than a quarter reside in both the South and West. The distribution of Jewish children is skewed more toward the Northeast and away from the South and West, while very similar to adults in the Midwest. Higher rates of in-marriage and raising children as Jews in the Northeast contribute to the relative concentration of Jewish children in that region. The regional distribution of Jewish households is similar to that of Jewish adults.

Relative to the total U.S. population, the Jewish population -- adults and children combined -- remains over-represented in the Northeast (43% for Jews and 19% for the total U.S. population), proportionally represented in the West (22% vs. 23%) and under-represented in both the Midwest (13% vs. 23%) and South (23% vs. 35%).

Among native-born adult Jews, two patterns indicate substantial migration over the course of their lifetimes from the Northeast and Midwest to the South and the West. First, relative to their current regional distribution, the distribution of where they were born is even more skewed toward the Northeast (57%) and Midwest (18%) and substantially less skewed toward the West (14%) and South (11%).

Second, adult Jews have left their regions of birth at different rates. Among Jews born in the Northeast, 62% continue to live there today, and only 50% of Midwestern-born Jews are still in their native region. The vast majority of adults who have left these regions are now in the West and South. Jews born in the South show about the same level of regional stability (61%) as Northeastern-born Jews. In contrast, more than three-quarters of Western-born Jews (77%) are still in their region of birth. The net effect of these movements has been a population shift of native-born Jews away from the Northeast and Midwest and toward the South and West.

Mobility in the past five years* has been fairly common among Jews. Thirty-five percent of adult Jews indicate they lived in a different residence five years ago than they do now, including 12% who lived within the same town or city but in a different house or apartment; 10% who lived in a different town or city within the same state; 10% who lived in a different state; and 2% who lived in a different country.

*Topics with asterisks refer to respondents who answered the survey's long form, representing a population of 4.3 million Jewish adults and children.

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