BACKGROUNDDespite the growth of environmental migration studies in recent decades, spatial analyses examining the impact of climate variability on migration within the United States at a finer geographical scale remain limited. OBJECTIVEThis study aims to investigate the environmental aspects of migration and explore the heterogeneous impacts of the environment on age-and place-specific migration patterns at the county level in the United States using spatial methods. METHODSWe employed spatial techniques to investigate the impacts of temperature and precipitation variability on county-level net migration rates (NMRs) across age groups and rural/urban counties in the United States. RESULTSAs temperature anomalies increase, nonmetropolitan counties experience a greater decline in NMRs compared to metropolitan counties, indicating that nonmetropolitan areas may be more sensitive to rising temperatures in terms of population change.The age-specific models revealed distinct migration patterns among working-age and older adults, with the NMRs of working-age adults showing a decreasing trend as temperature
Zhou et al. (Tue,) studied this question.