By SAM ROBERTS


Stranded by the nationwide slump in housing and jobs, fewer Americans are moving, the Census Bureau says.

The bureau found that the number of people who changed residences declined to 35.2 million from March 2007 to March 2008, the lowest number since 1962, when the nation had 120 million fewer people.

Experts said the lack of mobility was of concern. It suggests that Americans were unable or unwilling to follow any job opportunities that may have existed around the country, as they have in the past. The lack of movement itself, they said, could have an impact on the economy, reducing the economic activity generated by moves.

Joseph S. Tracy, research director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said the lack of mobility meant less income for movers. But, Dr. Tracy said, the most troubling prospect is that people were no longer able to relocate for work.

“The thing that would be of deeper concern is if job-related moves are getting suppressed and workers are not getting re-sorted to the jobs that best use their skills,”he said.“As the labor market started to improve, if mobility stays low, you can worry about the allocation of workers.”

The American Moving and Storage Association said the number of people changing residences fell 17.7 percent from 2007 to 2008.

“We saw a standstill in new home construction, so there was no domino effect from people moving,”John Bisney, a spokesman, said.

In its report, the Census Bureau said that Americans’mobility rate fell to 11.9 percent in 2008, down from 13.2 percent the year before. For decades, several trends have driven a decline in American wanderlust.

Home ownership rates have risen, and owners are typically less likely to move than renters. Two-earner families have become more common, and finding employment for both spouses in a new location can be challenging. Americans’median age has been climbing, and it is younger people who usually move most often.

“It does show that the U.S. population, often thought of as the most mobile in the developed world, seems to have been stopped dead in its tracks due to a confluence of constraints posed by a tough economic spell,”said William H. Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution, an independent research and policy institute.

Robin Camacho, a Las Vegas real estate agent, expressed surprise at the census mobility figures, given the high foreclosure rates in her city.“If people are losing their homes and tenants are being forced to vacate,”Ms. Camacho said,“then this just doesn’t jibe with what I intuitively think. I see people moving constantly because they have no choice.”

Patrick Bonnema, sales manager for Anderson Brothers Moving and Storage in Chicago, said local residential moves were“down drastically over the last six months.”

“I’m not surprised this has happened,”he said.“Look at the economy, look at the banking industry, look at the credit industry. People can’t move, what are they going to do? Their homes are now worth less than what they originally paid, and they don’t want to take a loss.”


Steve Freiss contributed reporting from Las Vegas; Rebecca Cathcart from Los Angeles; and Lori Rotenberk from Chicago.