Migration of Retirement-Age Blacks to Nonmetropolitan Areas in the 1990s*

Older blacks migrated to nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) communities in the 1990s to a degree not true of the past. Some of the nonmetro counties that attracted them are well-known retirement areas also favored by other retirees, mostly whites. Two-thirds of black retirement counties, however, are areas in the Old South that are not attracting other retirees at a substantial rate, if at all. Although the data indicate significant rates of retirement-age blacks migrating to 85 nonmetro counties, most migration by older blacks is to metro destinations.