Flow of cognitive capital across rural and urban United States

Socioeconomic status and other socio-demographic factors have been associated with selective residential mobility across rural and urban areas, but the role of psychological characteristics in selective migration has been studied less. The current study used 16-year longitudinal data from the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) to examine whether cognitive ability assessed at age 15–23 predicted subsequent urban/rural migration between ages 15 and 39 (n = 11,481). Higher cognitive ability was associated with selective rural-to-urban migration (12 percentile points higher ability among those moving from rural areas to central cities compared to those staying in rural areas) but also with higher probability of moving away from central cities to suburban and rural areas (4 percentile points higher ability among those moving from central cities to suburban areas compared to those staying in central cities). The mobility patterns associated with cognitive ability were largely but not completely mediated by adult educational attainment and income. The findings suggest that selective migration contributes to differential flow of cognitive ability levels across urban and rural areas in the United States.