Migrant selection and sorting during the Great American Drought

America’s worst drought spanned the 1930s, coinciding with the most extensive environmental migration in United States history. Nearly 100 years later, we know little about who moved and who stayed. This paper studies heterogeneity in migration from drought by relating migration decisions recorded in the 1940 census to county drought conditions. Drought increased migration primarily for individuals with a 12th-grade education or higher. Drought migrants, both women and men, left rural and urban locations and most often relocated to rural destinations. These findings highlight the importance of individual-level characteristics for adaptation to climate shocks, challenge the perception that rural-to-urban is the dominant environmental migrant channel, and document the central importance of drought for internal migration during the 1930s.