The Shifting Patterns of Black Migration From and Into the Nonmetropolitan South, 1965-95

In the period 1965-95, Black migration from the nonmetropolitan (rural and small-town) South to places in the North and West declined significantly, shifting instead mostly to the metropolitan South. This outmovement, in turn, became offset by migration of Blacks into (or back to) rural districts from metropolitan areas. Net population loss is still evident in areas of the western nonmetropolitan South that have significant proportions of Blacks, but not in the eastern South. Migration lowered the education level of the nonmetropolitan Black population somewhat by a net loss of college graduates and a net inflow of persons who had not finished high school. Poverty rates of Blacks coming into the nonmetropolitan South were as high as those of the nonmigrant population, indicating no general income benefit from the urban inflow.