The author evaluates how selective housing traits, local government expenditures, and school district qualities influence household mobility in the suburban four-county Cleveland metropolitan statistical area (MSA). The efficacy of the Tiebout thesis is to some extent substantiated in Geauga, Lake, and Medina Counties. Low government expenditures and amenity-aesthetic improvements in small-size municipalities offer strong enticements for the in-migration of high median-income households. In contrast, in Cuyahoga County, the size of a municipality best determines household mobility and residential location. Because mobility and public services provision are not strongly associated in large-size municipalities, the Tiebout thesis inadequately explains household location decisions, and one must look elsewhere for an understanding of suburban housing mobility.
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