Short-Haul Moves and the Political Geography of Partisanship: Intrametropolitan Migration as a Force for Change in U.S. Politics
Short-distance moves within metropolitan areas contribute modestly but meaningfully to partisan geographic sorting.
Why It Matters
The publication begins with a motivating question: Do short-distance moves within metropolitan areas contribute to partisan geographic sorting?
Its central contribution is to show that short-distance moves within metropolitan areas contribute modestly but meaningfully to partisan geographic sorting.
It matters because the findings connect institutional choices to the way authority, public responsibility, and political behavior are experienced in practice.
Key Findings
- Short-distance movers tend to select destinations that are more politically compatible with their partisanship.
- These patterns persist after accounting for other destination characteristics.
- Local moves can produce small but meaningful changes in the partisan composition of legislative districts.
Research Design
- Design
- Article
- Data
- Voter-file records covering 32.3 million registered voters in 215 metropolitan areas across nine states over eight years.
- Geography
- 215 U.S. metropolitan areas across nine states
- Time Period
- Eight-year voter-file panel
- Unit of Analysis
- Registered voter residential move
- Methods
- Comparison of movers and nonmovers using longitudinal voter-file records.; Metro-area statistical analyses of origin and destination partisanship and other destination characteristics.
Full Abstract
We consider how the high volume of short-distance migration within metropolitan areas contributes to partisan sorting across the United States. Using voter records comparing movers and nonmovers within 215 metro areas across nine states, we find high levels of sorting even when moves occur within the same core-based statistical area and state. Short-distance moves contribute modestly but meaningfully to the growing political lopsidedness of many legislative districts between censuses.
Citation
Gimpel, James G., Jordon Newton, and Andrew Reeves. 2026. "Short-Haul Moves and the Political Geography of Partisanship: Intrametropolitan Migration as a Force for Change in U.S. Politics." Urban Affairs Review 62(4): 975-1018. https://doi.org/10.1177/10780874251380677
- Venue
- Urban Affairs Review
- Volume
- 62
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 975-1018
- DOI
- 10.1177/10780874251380677