42% of Americans Are Hesitant to Move to a Politically Diverse Place

42% of Americans Are Hesitant to Move to a Place Where They’d Be in the Political Minority, Up From 32% in June

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The share of people who are hesitant to relocate to an area where they’d be in the racial, ethnic or religious minority also increased—to 28% from 20%—according to a Redfin survey.

Forty-two percent of U.S. residents would be hesitant to move to an area where most people have political views different from their own, up from 32% in June. That’s the highest share since 2017, when Redfin began posing this question to survey respondents.

This is according to a survey of more than 3,000 U.S. residents that Redfin conducted in October, a month before the 2020 presidential election. We compared the results with findings of similar past surveys, the most recent of which we conducted in late spring. The spring survey was launched on May 21, four days before George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer, and ended on June 8, as racial-justice protests were underway across the country. 

“With political signs lining the front yards of homes across America, house hunters can’t escape the political views of their prospective neighbors,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “While living among like-minded people is important to many homebuyers, key concerns like affordability and space are more likely to be the deciding factors in the homebuying process—especially as remote work gives families the freedom to leave dense, expensive cities in search of bigger homes and better value during the pandemic.”

An October Redfin analysis found that more people moved from blue (Democratic-leaning) to red (Republican-leaning) counties than from red to blue counties in the spring, as families seeking affordability and space fled politically liberal areas.

When broken down by who respondents intend to vote for in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump voters and Joe Biden voters were equally as likely to express skepticism about moving to a place where they’d be in the political minority. Forty-five percent of participants who indicated that they plan to vote for Biden and 45% of participants who indicated that they plan to vote for Trump said that they would be hesitant to move to a place where most residents have different political views.

More than a quarter of Americans are hesitant to move to a place where they’d be in the racial, ethnic or religious minority

A smaller share of survey respondents—28%—said they would be hesitant to move to a place where most people are of a different race, ethnicity or religion. That’s up from 20% in June.

When broken down by who respondents intend to vote for, Trump voters were most likely to express skepticism about relocating to an area where a majority of people look or pray differently. More than a third (36%) of survey participants who indicated that they plan to vote for Trump said that they would be hesitant to move to a place where most residents are of a different race, ethnicity or religion. That compares with less than a quarter (23%) of participants who indicated that they plan to vote for Biden.

When broken down by race, 29% of white respondents said they would be hesitant to move to a place where most residents are of a different race, ethnicity or religion. That compares with 26% of both Black and Hispanic respondents, and 23% of Asian participants, though the differences between races were not statistically significant.

Methodology

Redfin surveyed over 3,000 U.S. residents aged 18 and up between October 7, 2020 and October 15, 2020. The demographics of the survey sample were on par with U.S. Census breakdowns for age, gender, race, and geography in order to match the makeup of the general population as closely as possible. Where possible and applicable, results were compared with those from similar past surveys. In addition to the questions referenced in the above charts, respondents were asked who they plan to vote for in the 2020 U.S. presidential election (Biden led in our survey 49% to 43%).

Lily Katz

Lily Katz

As a data journalist, Lily is passionate about helping readers understand complex facets of the housing market. She is particularly interested in the issues of climate change, race and gender equality and housing affordability. Prior to working at Redfin, Lily spent four years as a reporter at Bloomberg News in New York City.

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