Household Moves Hit a Post-Pandemic High

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What Happened

In the past year, approximately 12.3 million households moved — the highest total since before the pandemic (2019). This is according to newly released data from the US Census Bureau’s 2025 Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey.

Notably, the number of moves is up 12.1% compared to the prior year, making it the largest annual increase since at least the turn of the century. Further, it is the first time that the number of moves increased in consecutive years since 2010.

Driving Factors

Housing-related reasons — including (a) wanting new or better housing, (b) wanting a better neighborhood, (c) wanting cheaper housing, (d) transitioning to homeownership, or (e) some other non-distress reasons — accounted for 4.68 million moves over the past year (38.2% of the total). Compared to 2024, housing-related moves increased by 550,489 (+12.1%) — the second-largest absolute increase of any motivating category.

The largest absolute increase is attributed to family/household formation reasons — including (a) establishing one’s own household, (b) a change in marital status, (c) moving in with an unmarried partner, or (d) another family reason. Collectively, these family- and household-centric reasons motivated 3.65 million moves in the past year, an increase of 774,001 from a year earlier (+26.9%).

Meanwhile, retirement-motivated moves saw a large relative increase — up 57.8% year over year. Between the Baby Boomer generation continuing to reach Social Security eligibility and lingering pandemic-related effects, large swings in retirement-motivated moves have been common since about 2018.

What It Means for Real Estate

More moves mean more household churn — which lifts leasing velocity and turnover-related CapEx. The big engine to watch is household formation, which supports absorption in attainable apartments and entry-level SFR — especially in suburban and lower-cost submarkets. Housing-preference moves point to continued bifurcation. In markets that are not oversupplied, Class B/C and well-located value assets should continue to see steady demand. Notably, distress and displacement remain minimal, accounting for only about 60k moves in the past year, implying churn is opportunity-driven rather than forced — a constructive signal for both rent rolls and resale liquidity heading into 2026. For the for-sale market, rising mobility helps loosen the gridlock created by rate-lock effects. If mortgage rates ease, that could further unfreeze transaction activity and support modest gains in both new and existing home sales.

About the data

Figures are from CPS ASEC household-level “moved in last year” responses; reasons are rolled up from 20 CPS categories (excluding NIU) into thematic buckets. Counts are weighted and rounded; year-over-year changes reference 2024 to 2025. Breakouts of thematic categories are listed below:

• Housing — preference/upgrade: (a.) Wanted to own, not rent; (b.) Wanted new/better housing; (c.) Wanted better neighborhood; (d.) For cheaper housing; (e.) Other housing reason.

• Housing — distress/displacement: (a.) Foreclosure or eviction.

• Employment / commute: (a.) New job/transfer; (b.) To look for work or lost job; (c.) For easier commute; (d.) Other job-related reason.

• Family / household formation: (a.) Change in marital status; (b.) To establish own household; (c.) Other family reason; (d.) Relationship with unmarried partner.

• Education: (a.) Attend/leave college.

• Retirement: (a.) Retired.

• Health / environment / other: (a.) Health reasons; (b.) Change of climate; (c.) Natural disaster; (d.) Other reasons.