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Americans are moving at half the rate they used to — why?

If you’ve made the exciting (stressful) decision to pack up your life and move in the past few years, it turns out you’re very much in the minority, with Americans increasingly staying put in modern times.

Moving’s out

According to yearly figures from the Current Population Survey, conducted by the Census Bureau and reported in The Wall Street Journal last week, domestic migration rates are hovering near all-time recorded lows after just 7.9% of Americans switched towns or cities last year. That’s fewer than half of the 16.7% who were on the move in 1994, as the share of people relocating even within the same county has plummeted from 10.4% three decades ago to a little over 4% now.

So, what happened?

Homeowners being “locked in” to their current houses isn’t helping, as the prospect of trading in the generous mortgage rate they may have picked up around the pandemic for the current ~7% level proves, understandably, unappealing. But mortgage rates were high in the past as well, suggesting that more structural influences are also at play.

Wider societal shifts like the rise of dual-income households and an aging population have also weighed on US dynamism, given the complications of having to factor two careers into big relocation decisions and the fact that we tend to move less as we get older.

Technology, meanwhile, has made the ability to work remotely more feasible, fraying the cord that required people to move closer to their office jobs. Disproportionately higher rents in the likes of LA, New York, and Miami may also be discouraging people from moving to some of America’s most sought-after cities.

Furthermore, research suggests that wage differentials between states have generally been getting smaller, a megatrend that’s been evident in the US since the late 1800s, reducing the incentive to move in some cases. It’s rarely now a local labor market — often it’s a national, or even an international, one.

The current work environment is likely a major short-term factor figuring in decisions, too. After quitting rates boomed in 2021, many employees are now hanging on to their jobs, per the Journal, as the labor market slows and the outlook for grads and people looking to forge a new career path elsewhere grows bleaker.

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Netflix could lose big budget content creators over its theater-skipping policy

With only a few months to go before the eagerly anticipated final series of “Stranger Things”, Netflix has run bike-first into a speedbump with its creators.

Over the last few days, rumors have circulated that the Duffer Brothers — who’ve overseen their hit sci-fi series grow from a still-large ~$6 million budget per episode newcomer in 2016, to a whopping ~$30 million per episode phenomenon by its fourth season — are signing a major deal to make exclusive film and television content with recently-merged media group Paramount Skydance.

Demogor-gone

According to reports, the Duffer Bros have been put off by Netflix’s hardline theatrical release policy, since the streamer often avoids giving tentpole movies significant windows in cinemas before launching on the platform. Per TechCrunch, the approach has already been a point of contention with other Hollywood heavyweights.

While Netflix is still winning the streaming wars, having run circles around Paramount+ in terms of raw subscriber numbers, losing two of the biggest fish in its original content talent pool could be a knock in an area where the streamer is already struggling to find success: making high-budget blockbusters that draw praise from fans and critics alike.

Looking at Screen Rant’s list of Netflix’s most expensive projects to date, few of the streamer’s $100 million+ budget movies have garnered much acclaim from audiences, nor overly positive reviews from critics (with the notable exception of Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated epic “The Irishman”).

But the platform’s priciest original production, with an eye-watering $320 million budget, was also the worst critically received on the list. Indeed, “The Electric State” — which not only hails from another set of brotherly sci-fi directors, but stars “Stranger Things” alum Millie Bobby Brown — has seen a paltry 14% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes following its March release.

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13M Lbs Lost With This Science-backed Method

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With over 350,000 5-star reviews, Simple’s AI-powered, award-winning app is giving real people a new toolbox for managing health and nutrition. User Karen lost 207 lbs after making one small change. Now, she feels physically and mentally stronger than ever.

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First mover… disadvantage?

Facing stiff competition from compounding pharmacies and legacy giants, Novo Nordisk, once Europe’s most valuable company, has been shedding weight since its market value peaked north of $650 billion.

After soaring into the mainstream with Ozempic and Wegovy, Novo has had to watch as competitors caught up to their early lead and launched their own competing drugs and treatments, as appetite for appetite-suppressing GLP-1s exploded. 

Now, Eli Lilly’s efforts, Mounjaro and Zepbound, are even outselling Novo’s original GLP-1s, as studies have shown the newer products to be more effective at helping patients lose weight.

But there’s been some good news for Novo Nordisk shareholders to cheer in recent days.

Firstly, on Friday, the company’s weight-loss shot Wegovy was approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat a liver condition, broadening the potential applications of the treatment. Secondly, the company announced this morning that cash-paying patients can get the diabetes/weight-loss drug Ozempic for half of its list price through its NovoCare direct-to-consumer platform.

Can Novo get back on top? Time will tell — but investors were slightly more optimistic in early trading on Monday, with NVO shares rising 5% in the US, building on Friday’s 3% rise.

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Off the charts: A recent YouGov survey of US adults found that liver was the most hated food — but what was named Americans’ least favorite food overall? [Answer below]. 

Answer here.

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Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... See more