35.2 million

Number of people 1 year and older who changed residences in the United States within the past year, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That's a drop of 3.5 million from the 2007 figure and represents the smallest number of residents to move since 1962. The Census Bureau puts the "national mover rate" at 11.9 percent, a decline from 13.2 percent a year earlier and the lowest rate since 1948, when the government agency first started tracking this information.

Among people who moved last year, 65 percent relocated within the same county; 18 percent moved to a different county in the same state; 13 percent went to a different state; and 3 percent moved abroad.

"Generally speaking, people move based on the economy, and obviously the economy in 2008 was mediocre to bad. That would tend to have a negative impact on people's desire, ability or need to move," said Jed Smith, a research director for the National Association of Realtors, in this New York Times article on the Census Bureau mover data.