Residential mobility and dynamic neighborhood change during the transition to adulthood

This article examines the neighborhood attainment outcomes of individuals transitioning out of adolescence and into adulthood. Given the dynamic nature of this period, we may expect significant upward and downward changes in young adult residential environments relative to the adolescent neighborhood. Using U.S. data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we examined movement across matrices of neighborhood poverty and quality. While, as expected, there is stickiness on the diagonal, that is movement which extends inequality, we found large groups of young adults making upward and downward moves, particularly Hispanics. The study points to life course events related to human capital, income and household formation as important factors shaping significant movement up and down the neighborhood poverty and quality distributions.