Sadly, in the post-WWII decades, it seems that the American Dream has consisted of getting the hell away from your parents, and/or getting the hell out of this

Sadly, in the post-WWII decades, it seems that the American Dream has consisted of getting the hell away from your parents, and/or getting the hell out of this podunk rural town and into the Big City. Now both of those can be tragedies in their own way. In the 1970s there was a notorious upheaval in TV programming known as "The Rural Purge": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_purge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_purge Basically, a lot of TV series which were set in rural or pastoral settings, were outright canceled in favor of urban shows, including "fish out of water" fare such as The Beverly Hillbillies. And prime time TV has never been the same since then! So it was inevitable that there have been waves of urbanization, and commensurate de-ruralization. As people got into STEM, they needed to get off the farm. If it was no longer possible to make a living on a ranch, then people needed to get into the cities. Including minorities such as Black Americans, who may find more opportunity on the fringes of society, and less discrimination or injustice, after a while anyway. And there has been a streak of independence as well. American kids are raised to resent their parents and long for something else. Sometimes they don't know what that is, just that they can't find it at home. So an American kid, especially the boys, they're conditioned and poised to leave home as soon as they're 18. Go far away to college and stay away. Leave the nest behind and make it on your own [even if your family already lived in a nice big city.] Even I was infected with this so-called "American Dream", and not realizing how good I had things at home, I wanted to get out of there, get far away, make it on my own, but I couldn't. I couldn't fend for myself and I crashed and burned; I hit rock bottom without my family's support. I never should have left in the first place, but now the deed is done. In the 1950s the propaganda supported the "Nuclear Family" concept, and extended families started splintering. It's often not cool for parents to live with their married, adult children, or to have a large family house that fits everyone. The kids go away and they hole up in 1BR apartments alone, to fend for themselves independently, for better or worse. Women enter the workforce, willingly or unwillingly. I would say at this point, that whoever has purchased a home and the land underneath it, they're done moving. Perhaps fewer are looking to purchase homes far away from where they already are. I myself decided I'd never relocate again, back in 1999, because it just wasn't worth it anymore, and also because I found myself in a really ideal location that offered no reasons to leave.