Happy to Be Home: Place-Based Attachments, Family Ties, and Mobility among Rural Stayers

Abstract

Migration research has traditionally centered on tracing movement; however, the experience of staying in place has begun to capture scholarly attention. Drawing on data from an online residential decision-making survey, this article focuses specifically on the reasons that contented Vermonters cite for remaining in their home state. A statistical analysis of responses reveals the dominance of place-based factors and family ties in stayers' residential decision making. Contented stayers highly value landscape and community, as well as living near family. Biographical sketches of individual respondents show the emotional dimensions of choosing to stay, as well as the diverse forms of mobility that contented stayers exercise to remain happy at home. In its focus on stayers, this research situates itself within new geographic inquiries into place attachment and studies of “immobile” populations.