One common narrative about the changing migration patterns of the last year is that fear of the coronavirus and new remote work models led people to move to greener vistas. However, a new survey from the Pew Research Center shows that financial stress drove most decisions to relocate, especially as the pandemic wore on.

In November, a third of respondents in the Pew survey said that financial reasons motivated their decision to move. Among this group, 17% of respondents cited job loss as the financial pain point, while 15% said that the financial pain point was something other than job loss. This is a significant increase from June when only 18% of respondents cited financial pressures as the reason for their move.

The trend was even more notable among those who moved with another adult. When isolating for this category, 36% of people who moved with another person cited financial reasons as the main motivator to move. This suggests that families faced more significant affordability challenges during the pandemic than single adults.