Moving back: Spatial and demographic differences in boomeranging to parents

We develop a new method for capturing moves back to parents (boomerangs) using the large-scale American Community Survey to study spatial aspects of boomeranging among young adults (YAs) aged 24–29. Multivariate regressions of the likelihood that a move is a boomerang surface distinct intersectional differences between moves within- versus across-metropolitan areas, by race, education, marital status, and children. We also find that the boomerang share of moves is higher among disadvantaged groups in terms of race/ethnicity, education, recent marital dissolution and employment disruption. Importantly, boomerangers remain in or move toward weaker labor markets, countering convergence across places. Using a synthetic cohort to illustrate where YAs could land if they boomeranged, we find weaker local opportunities for boomeranging Black and Hispanic YAs, and those from lower socioeconomic status families. This reveals another channel through which spatial inequalities may operate, unrecognized in previous work that lacks the ACS’s spatial granularity.