THE IMPORTANCE OF AMENITIES AND ATTITUDES - A WASHINGTON EXAMPLE

Most models of why people move or stay have assumed that economic reas ons were the primary driving force. More recently noneconomic or ameni ty reasons have been recognized as other major factors in the decision to move or stay. We report on the results of a random survey of 398 p eople in San Juan County, Washington. Amenities were found to be impor tant both for migrants and residents, although there were differences between the two groups. Migrants and residents also differed on issues such as raising taxes to improve local services. We also found differ ences by age category. Discriminant analysis was successful in classif ying both on resident/migrant and under and over age sixty-five catego ries.