New nomads: 2% of Russians are constantly on the move between regions. Who are they?

      Moving to another region speeds up wage growth, but only slightly. At the same time, the most mobile turned out to be construction workers and workers in the extractive industry, while doctors, by contrast, very rarely decide to take such a step. These are the key findings of a large-scale study of interregional migration conducted on the basis of an analysis of anonymized bank transactions for 2021–2025.

      Expectations and reality

      The analysis confirms that moving does indeed help earn more. However, the difference in income growth between migrants and non-movers proved to be small. Over a year the salaries of those who moved rose by an average of 18%, while those who stayed in their region saw an increase of 16%. The researchers note that initially the median salary of the migrants was 50% higher than that of non-movers. After changing region this gap increased only to 52%, which is related to the high share of movers coming from initially well-paid sectors. This was reported by the portal volga.news.

      Who moves and who doesn’t

      Mobility strongly depends on profession. The leaders by share of movers are:

      Construction workers (13.2%)

      Extractive industry workers (8.7%)

      Those employed in public administration (6.8%) and in transport (5.9%).

      At the opposite end are doctors — only 2.3% of medical professionals decided to change region for work.

      A distinct group is that of regular labor migrants — about 2% of workers who make more than three long trips to other regions over three years. Most of them (78%) are men, most often employed in construction (20%), public administration (16%) and transport (10%).

      Pensioners move for the climate

      People of pension age change region five times less often than young people. Their main points of attraction are southern regions with a mild climate. Thus, Krasnodar Krai, Adygea, Rostov and Stavropol regions received a net inflow of elderly population of 3% from 2021 to 2024. In Moscow and St. Petersburg the increase was about 1%. The largest outflow of older people occurs from the districts of the Far North and territories equated to them.

      Geography of flows and the gender gap

      The main migration flows of the past year were directed to Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Moscow Region and the republics of the North Caucasus. The populations of large regional centers with over a million inhabitants are also growing. The largest outflow is observed from the Far Eastern and Siberian federal districts.

      Men move more often than women, and this gap is especially large among young people. Among 18–27-year-olds who change federal subject, 13% are men compared with 8.6% of women. After age 58 the picture evens out.

      How it was calculated

      The study was carried out using big data — an analysis of anonymized transactions for 2021–2025. This methodology, the authors note, records more actual movements than official statistics based on changes of registration, since it takes into account moves by students, rotational workers and other citizens who do not always immediately change their registered address.