The Elderly Mobility Transition

Abstract

The redistribution of the elderly population in the United States is receiving increased attention as the sociodemographic consequences of the uneven geography of the aged are becoming more evident to state and local policymakers. Prospects for the future may be illuminated with the development of a conceptual framework for analyzing such redistribution processes. This article suggests that the notion of an Elderly Mobility Transition may be useful in such analyses, and it sets out three measures that could be used to depict the evolution of the transition: growth, concentration, and tempo.