Americans Are Moving Away From Polluted Areas -- If They Can Afford To

Pollution is a factor in families’ decisions to move elsewhere in the United States However, only higher-earning families are able to move to cleaner places People with lower-than-average incomes tend to stay where they are or move to more polluted areas MONDAY, Aug. 26, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Americans of means are fleeing heavily polluted places in the United States for cleaner locales, a new study has found. Pollution levels are a factor in families’ decision to move within the United States, but only richer households can afford to move to areas with better air quality , researchers reported recently in the journal Environmental and Resource Economics .

“We find inequalities exist when it comes to who is exposed to the worst areas of pollution -- with poorer families hit hardest,” said researcher Aurelie Slechten , a senior lecturer in economics with Lancaster University in the U.K. “Richer households opt to move into cleaner, healthier areas that tend to be more expensive,” Slechten added in a university news release.

“However, poorer families are priced out of these counties and are the ones who move into areas with higher levels of toxic releases.” For the study, researchers used IRS data files to track the movement of families between the 3,109 counties located in the continental United States between 2010 and 2014. They compared that movement to data from the Environmental Protection Agency showing the average air quality and number of pollution-spe.