By 2009 increased demand for natural gas, coupled with new hydro-fracturing techniques fueled an explosion in gas drilling in Pennsylvania. Rural communities celebrated this boom as an economic savior in an otherwise declining economy.  However, imported labor for drilling operations from oil and gas fields across the country was economically, socially, and demographically transformative in these communities. The sudden arrival of workers led to rising housing costs and declines in rentals. Increases in labor in-migrants were associated with degradation of public life that acted as push factors increasing mobility and out-migration. There were also countervailing factors anchoring people to their communities. Attachment to place and strong social cohesion moderated the distance and degree of out-migration. As a result, relocation tended to occur closer to home than might otherwise be dictated by rational economic choice. In this, the outcome of the in-migration boom on mobility indicates the balancing of economic push and social anchoring factors. Our analysis evaluates this balancing by studying the impact of labor in-migration on out-migration, commuting, and residential distribution in over 1,000 Pennsylvania communities. We use migration flow data by occupation from the 2008-2012 ACS County/MCD-to-County/MCD Flow Files (the only MCD level source for flows by occupation) to identify gas boom labor flows into these communities. We then establish sending areas where migration flows into these communities were dominated by gas industry workers. Finally, we compare gross migration flows from these oil patch areas in 2005-2009 and 2009-2013 to assess the impacts of labor in-migration on resident out-migration, changes in residential distribution, and commuting.