Migration to less-popular rural areas in the Netherlands: Exploring the motivations

► We study migration into less-popular areas using survey data (N = 664). ► Linking movers' motives and characteristics shows the diversity of rural in-migrants. ► Also in less-popular areas counterurbanisation is a differentiated phenomenon. ► These areas also attract middle-class movers motivated by the rural idyll. ► They attract groups with other motivations too, like the proximity of family.