Abstract
Air pollution poses significant health risks and influences migration patterns, making it a global concern with widespread implications. Understanding its effects on where migrants choose to reside can provide insights for addressing environmental and social challenges. Matching micro-survey data of 1.048 million migrants in China with the air quality data of 360 cities (2011-2017), we identified a significant negative impact of air pollution on migrants' willingness to reside. The subgroups of migrants with different household registration (urban and rural Hukou), occupation, education, income, and rent are affected by air pollution. During the observation period, the contribution of air pollution control to migrants' willingness to reside is 77.6% of the contribution of rising wage and exceeds the absolute value of the adverse contribution of rising house price. These findings suggest that air pollution control can promote environmental and socioeconomic progress by attracting more migrants, mitigating environmental injustice, and reducing inequality.