Sixty-five percent of physicians entering their first professional positions leave the counties of their residencies, following a national migration trend to the Sun Belt. Most of these were in nonprimary care specialties and moved into self-employment or office-based practices, were disproportionately male, and moved to smaller urban or nonurban…

A study of the distances between physicians' (n=2,612) residency program locations and first practice locations indicates that most moved less than 75 miles. Primary care physicians moved significantly shorter distances than did other specialists. This pattern has changed little over the last few decades. (Author/MSE)