Empirical Examination of Characteristics of Mexican Migrants to Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Areas of the United States

• Published in: Rural sociology Vol. 74; no. 2; pp. 220 - 240
• Main Authors: Farmer, Frank L, Moon, Zola K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-06-2009; Rural Sociological Society; Wiley
• Subjects: Age; Community Characteristics; Community Relations; Comparative analysis; Economic policy; Economic Research; Education; Educational Attainment; Educational Change; Empirical research; English (Second Language); English language; equations; farm labor; Fluency; Foreign Countries; Foreign Policy; Free trade; Heads of Households; Hispanic people; Human ecology and demography; Immigrants; Immigration; Immigration policy; Individual Characteristics; Internal migration; International Trade; Job Skills; Language Proficiency; Marital Status; Marriage; mathematical models; Metropolitan Areas; Mexican Americans; migrant workers; Migrants; Migration; migration behavior; Migration Patterns; Municipalities; Nonmetropolitan areas; North Americans; Opportunities; Opportunity; R&D; Research & development; Researchers; Rural and urban sociology; Rural Areas; rural society; Rural sociology; Rural studies; Social networks; sociodemographic characteristics; Sociology; Sociology of migrations; Statistical Analysis; Studies; U.S.A; Unskilled Workers; Urban Areas; Work Experience; United States; Mexico; United States Of America; United States > US; Immigrant; Rural Areas; Mexican
• ISSN: 0036-0112; 1549-0831
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1549-0831.2009.tb00390.x

This research examines differences between those Mexican migrants choosing metropolitan destinations and those choosing destinations outside metropolitan areas of the United States. Using general estimating equations, the study presents data indicating that since the 1960s migrants choosing rural destinations are less fluent in English, slightly older, much less educated, far more likely to be unskilled, more likely to be married, and more likely to be undocumented. The picture is more complex when consideration is restricted to those migrants arriving in rural areas since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement. These migrants are far more likely to be single, have more education but have less English fluency, have less work experience, and have less family experience with migration to the United States. They are more likely to come from small towns and rural areas of Mexico.