Net Migration Estimates by Age, Sex, Race and Hispanic Origin for U.S. Counties, 2000-2010: An Overview

Richelle Winkler, Michigan Technological University
Cheng Cheng, Princeton University

This paper describes the methods used to construct a new public dataset of net migration estimates (2000-2010) by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin for US counties. The data are essential for researchers analyzing place-based age-specific migration patterns, and they can inform the migration component of generating accurate small area population projections. The methodology follows a residual approach based on US Census counts at Census 2000 and 2010, and birth and death counts from the National Center for Health Statistics. They do not rely on sampling, making them highly accurate and reliable. Integrating the 2000-2010 data with similar net migration estimates produced each decade since 1950 provides a coherent dataset spanning 60 years of age-specific net migration for US counties (1950s: Bowles and Tarver 1965; 1960s: Bowles, Beale and Lee, 1975; 1970s: White, Mueser and Tierney 1987; 1980s: Fuguitt and Beale 1993; 1990s: Voss, McNiven, Johnson, Hammer, and Fuguitt 2004).