From colonial times to the present, Americans have moved across oceans and a continent. Although the geographic frontier closed 80 years ago, westward movement of the population has continued. But the movement is not only westward: Northerners move South, southerners move North, and westerners move East, in ever-increasing numbers and to ever-increasing distances. Concomitantly, social, economic, disciplinary, and occupational mobility characterize all but the very poorest of our society.

These various kinds of mobility are highly important for the country as a whole and for the academic community in particular. Exchange of ideas, of skills and of styles of life enrich the opportunities for all by introducing variety and by preventing “the crust of custom” from becoming too hard and heavy. Paradoxically, they also tend to homogenize our culture—a tendency re-enforced by continental television, national weeklies, and coast-to-coast dialing, all of which combine to convert the disparate cultures of this nation into a single society.

The present report is concerned specifically with the mobility of holders of the doctorate. Immigration and internal migration are both considered, as are the factors that govern mobility among disciplines and occupations. Although the mass immigrations of the nineteenth century have now been reduced to a trickle, inflow of scholars and scientists from other countries continues. A large fraction of outstanding scientists in this country today were born elsewhere. The internal migration of students who eventually earn doctorates is numerically greater by an order of magnitude than is the external migration. As they move from state to state at various career stages, they encounter differing conditions of economic level and educational development. In turn, as they graduate and enter gainful employment, their contributions affect these same parameters of economy and education. The internal flow of Ph.D.’s significantly reduces the differences among the states, particularly with respect to higher education.

We are indebted to the National Institutes of Health for the support of this study and for that of two earlier reports on the career patterns of PhD’s: Profiles of PhD’s in the Sciences and Careers of PhD’s—Academic vs. Nonacademic. Dr. Lindsey R. Harmon has served as the staff officer for this series of studies and is the author of its reports. The work was performed in the Office of Scientific Personnel with the advice of the OSP Advisory Committee. Dr. William C. Kelly provided general administrative supervision. It is hoped that the results of the present study may be useful to all concerned with education and employment at the doctoral level.